Extraordinary Life

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. . . life is beautiful.

It's brilliant sunshine against crystal skies. It's sixty degree weather in the middle of January. It's a warm breeze and the hint of laughter in the air.

It's little boys who say funny things. . . "I'm hot. Shall I take my shirt off?" It's little boys who do funny things. . . belly laughs that are too contagious to ignore and back rubs with tractors.

It's raking old, moldy leaves and still thrilling at the newness of life. It's being with friends. It's muddy shoes and blistered hands.

It's swinging. Going twisty. Holding still. Giving underdogs to the little ones. It's sore fingers from holding onto the swing next to yours, and perhaps sore lips from the smile you can't contain.

It's joy, and it's laughter, and if all is right with your God, it's peace.

This is life. Life is beautiful.

• 1 Comment

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Life would be such a drab and dull thing without joy. Laughter would be stilled; humor would not exist; and we would wallow in despair so complete it would destroy us.

And yet. . . in a way life would be much simpler if we didn’t have to be joyful. It’s one thing when the sun is shining and our hearts are at rest. It’s quite another when life takes an unfair turn and we’re left gasping for breath at the injustice of it all. Joy is not the natural response to hard times. Anger is. Despair is. Sorrow is. But joy? Whyever joy?

How can God expect it of us?

And expect it of us He does. Rejoice evermore. . . in every thing give thanks. . . count it all joy. . . There’s no doubt what He wants from us as His children.

It looks fairly impossible from a human standpoint, this joying in all things. But joy is not something we stir up within ourselves or somehow create. Joy is a gift from God, and He loves to give good gifts to His children. Don’t try to concoct your own version of joy; just ask Him for His. Choose joy, and let Him remind you how much He loves you. No matter the trial, He has promised to never leave us, to walk with us through it, to give us as much strength as we need.

And that in itself is a reason to be joyful. He hasn’t left us alone to stagger beneath our pain; He’s right here with us. And while the laughter may be drowned in tears for a while, the joy can still be present. Joy in Him if in nothing else.

He is reason enough, and more. ...continue reading →

• 2 Comments

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God is so good. The passing of the years testifies to that. We grow, and we change, and if we abide in Him, we grow and change for the better. Life brightens and darkens; our roads wind seemingly aimlessly, but the path laid out behind us creates a portrait we never could have foreseen.

The future is no different. God’s hand paints beautiful pictures when we are surrendered to Him, and what does it matter if those pictures have their splashes of pain? It makes the painting all the more beautiful in the end. Chaos in the hands of the Father breeds peace; confusion begets trust. And every moment when given to Him can be made into something beautiful that brings Him glory. ...continue reading →

• 4 Comments

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I wonder how big God's smile was when He decided to create friends.

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I wonder if we realize how empty the world would be without them.

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There would be no glancing at someone across the room and bursting into laughter at an inside joke. . .
. . . no mad dashes through Target in the middle of the night looking for a certain kind of candy
. . . no sitting out in the yard in pjs till all hours of the night, whispering in the rain and trying to laugh uproariously without waking up the entire neighborhood
. . . no bursting into the same song at the same time
. . . no long discussions about things that matter
. . . no wandering through K-Mart with tears streaming down your cheeks
. . . no tense rook games that last till three in the morning ...continue reading →

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I wonder sometimes why life is the way it is, why seemingly every moment is tinged with something that doesn’t belong. There are no moments of pure happiness nor of pure sorrow. Laughter is etched with tears, and pain is softened by joy. Why does everything in life taste so bittersweet?

Then I think of how it’d be to be purely happy. No worry, no pain, no tears. Just overwhelming happiness. And I realize that these mortal bodies and these frail minds likely couldn’t even handle that kind of joy. Nor could they bear such uninhibited anguish. Without a smile or a beam of light to soothe sorrow, we would break irrevocably.

We are so weak and fragile, not because God made a mistake when He designed us but because He wants us to have to rely on Him. There is no sorrow that can overwhelm us if we walk with our hand in the Father’s, nor will He allow unadulterated joy to destroy us. He tempers delight with despair, and vice versa, for our own good.

And that, to me, is beautiful. The ache behind the smiles reminds me that He is good, and the ray of light in every dark place tells me again how incredibly much He loves me. ...continue reading →