Turning Fire into Rain

                Lately I have been experiencing one of those times in life where the world seems to be conspiring against me to make my life as hard as possible. I realize that statement is very conceded, but I think we have all had times when we feel like no one is kind and understanding and everything that can go wrong does. First this phone breaks, then that car breaks down. When they are fixed, that phone breaks and this car breaks down. The holidays come with many expenses as illness works its way through every member of our household (including the cat!) and right around this time we find out our health insurance is gone and our options for alternative healthcare are unaffordable. As we prepare to entertain every family member within driving distance over the holidays, my husband and I pray that the termites that live in the very thin walls of the very old house we rent have not weakened the floor so much that we all fall through it. Despite all of this, today I was challenged to open my eyes to the miraculous work God is doing in my life, but lately I have been struggling to understand why everything seems to be going wrong while my husband and I are trying so hard to be who God made us to be.

                First Peter 4 was the passage my husband and I chose to read with our coffee today and in it Peter begins by reminding us of the suffering that Christ endured. He makes the bold claim that the one who suffers in life is finished with sin because he has stopped trying to get all of the pleasure out of life for himself and turned his focus to doing God’s will (which is not always very pleasant). He challenges us to be hospitable and intently love one another while speaking God’s love into the lives of those around us. He tells us not to be surprised when life turns against us for doing this but to rejoice that we have the opportunity to do God’s will. He tells us in these times we should “entrust [ourselves] to a faithful Creator.”

                After reading this I felt very guilty for feeling sorry for myself. I began to realize that with every bad thing that has happened over the last few weeks has come an opportunity to show the strength of God’s love to others. How blessed am I to not just witness, but to have the chance to be a part of the miraculous work that God is doing? How can I take the next negative situation that comes into my life and turn it into a chance to speak God’s word and love into someone else’s life? And how clear is God’s faithfulness when things go wrong yet I am still cared for through His provision?

                God, please help me to trust in Your faithfulness when things go wrong. Thank You for Your great love and providing me with the opportunity to show Your love to others in my life. Help me to continue to become the person You made me to be. Amen.

Love Earnestly

                Black Friday has always been a special day to me because it marks the first day of the Christmas season. Every year on that day, my family would pull out all of our Christmas decorations and flood the house with Christmas music and now my husband and I carry on that tradition. Every year the news reports that, on Black Friday, sales are starting sooner and people are getting hurt because they were first in line for the latest and greatest doodad, and everyone reacts with disgust at society’s lack of concern for each other. I think in the midst of our disgust, we miss another major problem with this tradition in that we become very negative, judgmental, and full of gossip about “those people” who participate in Black Friday. The next time we face holiday shopping crowds, we expect someone to cut us off and push us out of the way so we start looking at all others as “the enemy.” As we do this more often, we lend ourselves to the creation of the society that we are disgusted with all because of our own negativity towards others.

                This morning we read from 1 Peter 1 and verses 22-23 really stood out to me. They are as follows: “By obedience to the truth, having purified yourselves for sincere love of the brothers, love one another earnestly from a pure  heart, since you have been born again—not of perishable seed but of imperishable—through the living and enduring word of God.”  When God’s word brings our attention to life, God is always more concerned with the people we interact with than the things we are surrounded with. Peter points out here that we were born again of things that will last and are now able to love one another earnestly. The kind of love that God has for us and teaches us to have for one another is a life changing love without boundaries or reservation.

                When I stop to think about God’s unrestricted love, it makes me want to do everything out of this love. How can I drive to the store in a way that demonstrates God’s love to the other drivers on the road? How can I open myself up to be warm and inviting to strangers I interact with over the holiday season? How can I demonstrate love without conditions to family members I will see very soon? How can I shift my heart from the harsh judgment of strangers in society to the mission of loving every person with the love that God freely gives?

                Dear Lord, help me to love with the love that You have placed in my heart. Help me to give Your love freely to those around me. Help me not to judge strangers but to focus on things that will last. Amen.