I think there's an art to knowing the right thing to say, at the right time. Or at least sounding like you do.
My Dad and Grandpa seem to have this skill mastered. Something would happen, like a scraped knee or broken tire-swing, and it would shake up my little world. And they'd have a phrase or saying that made it all better.
As I got older I started to appreciate these handy sayings less and less - a stormy eyed teenager's wrath isn't much appeased by "That's jus' the way she goes." in response to unfairness or what I thought was the worst injustice in the whole world (honestly, knowing my teenage self, it probably had more to do with me being allowed to wear jeans with holes in them than actual injustice). And when the tears started to fall, oh baby, did I ever hate hearing my Dad chuckle and declare confidently, "When it rains, it pours."
This past little while has definitely been a season of raining and pouring. I woke up this morning to fog and slick grass to remind me of the showers last night - both in the world outside and the world inside my head. Sometimes your day goes bad to worse and heads straight into dead-awful. One of the hardest things I'm trying to reconcile in my confused brain is how there's a grand, almighty plan behind all of what's happening in my life and in my heart. I used to believe that any situation can be solved by the right amount of love and grace interwoven, and even the most difficult circumstances can be reasoned with by truth.
I've learned now that it doesn't always happen that way. And sometimes, no matter what you do, there's never going to be a perfect solution where everyone walks away encouraged or at least hopeful.
Maybe I'll never learn the art of having the right things to say at the right time. I'm okay with that. And maybe a little raining and pouring is what I really need right now - even though it doesn't feel like it.
So even though circumstances have got my heart hurting and seeking, and I've got red and purple cry-eyes big time (not even all the Pinterest home-remedies can save me now), I know I'm not in charge. I'm not the one who has the plan. Even though it looks to me like there's no good to come out of these circumstances, for anybody - I have to trust.
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This is what Purpose of Grace blog is all about. Another one of those cheesy-fits-the-moment-quotes I hear all the time goes like this; "Grow through what you go through." Even though I'm struggling, I gotta choose to grow and become more like Jesus. Even though I'm doubting and seeking and trying to figure out what's going to happen next, I praise God for his plan and I praise Him because he knows infinitely more about this than I do. His timing is perfect. His ways are perfect. And he commits to the good of those who love him - and he doesn't leave them lost or lonely.
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