(mirrored from 2nd Congregation "Advance")
Have you ever wondered, “Does it ever stop?” or cried out, “Make it stop.”My son Jeremy made a picture of himself surrounded by images of those loved ones who had recently died with a large slash through the picture and the words expressing the idea of “NO MORE.” He was feeling overwhelmed by the sorrows of life, sorrows usually felt by those much older than he. But the world is not always fair, hardship doesn’t discriminate according to age, and life’s trials can come all at once. We have to trust that God will not give us more than we can bear – but at times one wonders if one can bear anymore!
Jeremy asked me how I deal with so much strife and sorrow, how do I live through it. My automatic answer was “God,” but that wasn’t quite clear enough, so I elaborated. I remembered what my Grandpa Miller would say to me, “count your blessings.” This is to repeat something the Apostle Paul said, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” This tells me that I should remember all the blessings I do have and count them with joy. My family, my friends, my health (or relative health), my loves and gifts, my successes, the good things I have and have shared. When pondering the good things in my life, my sorrows seem to diminish a bit and become more bearable. I also remember that sorrow might endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning!
I remember my coach telling me “no pain, no gain.” I wonder if that is like passing through David’s “valley of the shadow of death” to get to the “Lord’s House” (Ps 23), or Israel ’s wandering for forty years in a wilderness before passing into the Promised Land (boy, I don’t want 40 years of it!) Perhaps, we all have to pass through some desert wildernesses. You might feel as if we have been wandering around in a wilderness for the last decade! Perhaps you’re tired and don’t want to have to face another problem, or another set of controversial discussions and the options that rage around them. Are you tired of the journey and have sore feet? Are you at the point where you want to cry out, “can’t we just enter the promised land?”
Yet, something wonderful happens in the desert of our lives, the old passes away and the new is found. Egyptis burned out of us, and we become a new people of the Promise. In the desert, we learn to hear from God and trust God. In the desert, we are changed from a slave nation to a mighty people. In the desert, we will face the walled cities of our fears and see them tumble. In the desert, we learn to count our blessings and not take them for granted. When is it “Enough”? When we become the people of God we are called to be…people who don’t simply exist as they bemoan the past, but a people who fully live in the hope of a better future.
