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Midweek Musings


Don't Give Up!


Recently, I heard the story of a funeral director who was late for work. He was driving too fast and ended up skidding off of the road and landing in the ditch. He bumped his head in the accident and had a small gash on his forehead. Another driver came by just as he was getting out of the car to assess the damages. “Can I call someone for you?” The kind passerby asked.

Realizing that he was going to be very late for his duties, he decided to ask the woman to phone his place of employment to let them know his circumstances. “Yes,” he replied. “Would you mind calling the city funeral home?” The woman studied him for a moment and then answered, “Mister, you look bad; but you don’t look that bad!”

          

 All too often we see things to be worse than they really are. We sometimes dial the funeral home, determine something is lifeless, and start planning a service before there has even been a death. We find ourselves losing hope and confidence. It’s like trying to get through that last bit of winter before we see evidence of spring.

Surely, there are times in everyone’s life when it seems as if the dreariness and the cold and the frozen state surrounding us will never lift. Things look bad. Things appear hopeless. The journey seems endless. And yet, often, it isn’t as bad as it looks. There is a way even if there doesn’t appear to be one. It’s there; you just haven’t seen it yet. There is life even in death. There are seeds bursting and opening and growing. It’s just all happening out of sight, underground. We can believe that even though we have no demonstration of proof, winter does come to an end. Dawn does break. Spring always comes. There is always a way. And even if things are as bad as they appear, by faith we believe we will make it through.

           

Thaddeus Golas wrote, “Inside yourself or outside, you never have to change what you see, only the way you see it.” 

           

There is, of course, a lot of information written about having a positive attitude. There are entire sections in bookstores devoted to living in a positive way. We all know that being optimistic and hopeful can produce wonderful consequences in every aspect of our lives. It is a bit of wisdom we have all heard. Unfortunately, it’s much easier to discuss than it is to put into practice. After all, it takes work to see old things in a new way, to envision miracles in ordinary places, to bear confidence that even though everything around us tells the same story, a story of death and winter and a frozen world, we know another story. We know the story of spring, of life, of hope.

It is difficult to practice seeing things in a new way; but it’s worth the effort. And even if you’re wrong and it is as bad as it seems, even if there is no pulse or seed or sign of life, even if we can’t find our way, we can hold onto the blessed assurance that help will come. We are never, ever alone.

 

You are the light of the world!



Yours,


Lynne