Life Isn't About Waiting For The Storm to Pass, It's About Learning To Dance In The Rain
This is a popular saying. It hit me the other day as uncertainty has been swirling a bit. When things are off balance in the physical and the spiritual it can be challenging to dance in the rain. Without the peace of Christ it can be a struggle to find cause to dance in times of trial rather than crawling into a corner to sulk. You would think that as Christians we should be immune to this, but even Peter lost his focus. He loved Christ and believed in Him, but he still took his eyes off Christ when the storm got scary. Look at Matthew 14:30. This man had the awesome faith to step out of a boat onto water, but when he saw the wind... that unknown force rocking his boat, making the water swirl under his feet, making waves crash into him, he redirected his attention, became afraid and started to sink. Christ grabbed him by the hand and asked, 'why did you doubt?" Perhaps he did not realize the power and wisdom of who was with him in the storm? Many years ago my mother was diagnosed with cancer. She was my very best friend. Five days a week we had lunch together and with few exceptions, spoke daily. She was a remarkable person. Highly talented. Incredibly smart. So loving. She would give you the shirt off her back was a true statement of her. She was also well traveled so she was rife with stories that could make the most busy person stop in their tracks to hear the ending of one of her tales. When we got the news that she had months, it was devastating. We lived about a half hour away from her. It never seemed far until the first night she didn't answer her phone. She was fine, but not knowing, we quickly packed up our sleeping 5 year old and took off to check on her. We decided that night to sell our house. We quickly found a buyer and a rental closer to mom. We were supposed to close right after Thanksgiving so we had our last holiday at the house and got it broom clean. My mother offered to let us stay with her so we were excited for our "few days" of Mom/Meema time. We were supposed to take occupancy December 1st. No problem as we thought we were closing in November... The closing got pushed out daily until our closing was in January. I spent a good deal of time at the end of November and more time throughout December on the phone with realtors, aggravated prospective landlords wondering why we hadn't taken occupancy and others. I had envisioned in my head what Christmas was supposed to be like. This was Mom's last and I wanted it to be special. Because the closing was delayed I spent a lot of it in negotiations. It was Christmas before I understood what I believe was at least "A reason." Christmas Eve we sat around eating treats, playing games and having fun. Rob surprised everyone and when we woke up in the morning everyone had a stocking, even mom. He had stuffed it full of her favorite perfume and other treats. He also went out early Christmas morning to get a dozen doughnuts and coffee, remembering her favorite butternut doughnuts. :) She got to see her grandson barrel out of the bedroom to open his presents. Snow, big fat flakes of snow, started to fall softly outside and lasted for hours until the outdoors looked sled worthy. We all bundled up and went outside to test the little guy's new sled and came inside to have a great dinner. It was an amazing Christmas. A God given gift. My preconceived notions of what our last Christmas would be like paled in comparison to what God had planned. It took me a while to see it because I was so focused on the wind. The wind will blow. Remember who is in the storm with you. Also, realize that the storm itself may be a gift. Hebrews 11:1 says faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. God's ways may not always be clear, but we can be certain that He has a plan for us. That gives me courage and cause to dance. Thoughts and comments welcome. Jeremiah 29:11 For I know what plans I have in mind for you, says the Lord, plans for well-being, not for bad things; so that you can have hope and a future.
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