More Than Appearance Management

Don’t even think for a moment my life is perfect. Why, just this week I was pulling weeds in my garden, disturbed a hornet’s nest, got stung on my nose.

Sure, I’m a Christian, married, employed, and healthy, but I still live on a budget, get rejected, quarrel with my wife, and have flat tires occasionally.  Life is simply a lot to take.

Too, too many times we look at others we admire, thinking they’ve got it made in the shade.  “If only I could live like them…” we murmur. But I’m here to tell you nobody gets a bye. Nobody. Consider King David: ruddy-cheeked, youthful, giant-killer, poet, singer and lute performer, lover, rich, famous. “Yes, Lord, just layer all that on me.” But read his entire story— adulterer, unhappily married, hunted and exiled, the death of several children…that’s the picture entire.

Scripture teaches us that God Himself took on flesh among us. And not even Jesus made life look easy. He endured hostility, misunderstandings, betrayal, pain, and even death. Such is life.

We all have our good days, grand moments, and feasts. But to each is measured out the bitter dregs of life we call suffering.

Ah, but “there is a destiny that shapes our ends, rough hewn though they be.” And as the good Lord brought Jesus through, David through, and even me through, you may trust Him to bear you along the course of life as well.

True, no one gets a bye. But everyone who asks can have God, meaning, hope, and the strength to press on through.