I was
feeling down about some circumstances the other day and wondering how I might
lift my spirits. I pulled from my shelf the book Life Is Like Licking Honey
Off a Thorn by Susan Lenzkes, and I read this: “We take the laughter and
the tears however they come, and let our God of reality make sense of it all.”
Lenzkes
says some people are optimists who “camp in pleasures and good memories,”
denying the brokenness. Others are pessimists who “focus on life’s losses,
losing joy and victory in the process.” But people of faith are realists who
“receive it all—all the good and bad of life—and repeatedly choose to know that
God really loves us and is constantly at work for our good and His glory.”
As I
read, I looked outside and noticed dark clouds and a steady rain. A little
later, a friendly wind came up and blew the clouds away. Suddenly the skies
were bright blue. The storms of life blow in and out like that.
By faith
we cling to God’s promise of Romans 8:28. And we recall that “our light
affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17). God loves us, and He’s getting us
ready for the day when skies will be forever blue.
God
promises a safe landing – but not necessarily a calm passage. (RBC)
