My
personality may sound familiar to you: I am a practical, logical person. I like
to be able to quantify and comprehend everything that happens in my life. I don’t
appreciate what I consider to be nonsense, and I reallly don’t like to waste my
time.
The problem
is that circumstances rarely fall
into line like a roll call of disciplined soldiers in basic training. Often, that
roll call seems more like a chaotic “row” of circus clowns performing antics with
mini cars, noisemakers, pies, and little dogs.
We want to
regulate the silliness, but we can’t. We signed on for it when we bought the
ticket to the circus (of life), and we have to accept it. The performers have a
reason for their actions: entertainment.
Every Event has Importance
Granted, not
everyone appreciates clowns. However, they usually accomplish their main goal
of making us smile, or at least making most kids smile. These performers’
purpose is to give us the priceless gift of laughter. That’s the method behind
their madness.
Serious
circus goers may roll their eyes. Individuals might feel like screaming at the
clowns to get off the stage and allow the animal or acrobatic acts to take
over. Yet, the schedule must be
followed. You can’t speed up the show. Every kind of act plays its part in the
process of entertainment.
Recently, I
published an article about trusting the process here.
Today, I would like to continue with the
theme of keeping a vision through the times that don’t seem to make sense.
Hope Through the Confusing Journey
We may question
why we have to go through hard circumstances. We may fume about the unfairness
of life. The fact is that some situations are understandable only when
we look back on them later—sometimes, muccccch later. Two stories from Bible
teacher Joyce Meyer illustrate this fact. I’ll paraphrase them here:
Embroidery
Those
familiar with embroidery know that it’s a work of fine craftsmanship in the
right hands. However, if you turn the image over, you see the mess behind it: seemingly
random knots and loops. The back side of an embroidered panel makes no sense,
but the front side shows the beautiful end result.
The Broken Pot
A man in a
developing country carried water to his employer daily in two large pots. One
pot was perfect. The other one was cracked. Needless to say, water constantly
leaked out of the cracked one.
Soon, the
imperfect pot started crying. He pointed out his flaws to the carrier and said
that he didn’t feel he was worthwhile. He wasn’t able to do his job.
The man
walked along their usual path, highlighting splendid flowers and grass to the sad
vessel. He pointed out that this beauty was only on the broken pot’s side. All
along, he had been using the broken pot to grow natural loveliness for his
employer.
My Conclusion
When the
journey is confusing and heartbreaking, there’s no use trying to figure it out.
There’s only one place to turn…
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own
understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths
straight.”—Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)
How have you found peace in the rocky
journey?
No comments:
Post a Comment