I freely admit to being a social media junkie,
and today when I logged onto Facebook I was greeted by a meme of some famous
lines from The Princess Bride:
Buttercup:
"You mock my pain."
Man
in Black: "Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling
something."
The Man in Black was right. Life is pain.
Life is messy. Life is full of jarring bumps and stinging scrapes and falling
down and getting up again. Anyone who says differently, including Christians,
is selling something.
The Christian life is sometimes passed off in
well-meaning witness as the perfect life. In our zeal to bring others to know
Christ, we Christians occasionally give the false impression that a
relationship with Jesus means the days of pain and problems will be over. Not
so. That's not what God promised us. Life is messy, and even for Christians
it's pretty ugly sometimes.
But the really cool thing is God blesses
messes. God works through messes. God converts messes. God raises up
righteousness out of messes, out of pain, out of heart-ache and tears. He
teaches us, he makes us stronger and wiser and sometimes even more joy-filled
despite messes that cling to our lives.
My favorite passage of Scripture is Psalm
40 which starts out with these verses, "I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard
my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making
my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise
to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the
LORD."
That passage reminds
me of Bill and Gloria Gaither's hymn Something
Beautiful, and the work God did in me:
Something beautiful, something good...
He started me on a walk in this life that I didn't anticipate. He
filled my life with adventures, surprises, and blessing. He gave me reasons to
hope, even during hard times.
He gave me a home, a loving husband, wonderful children and grand
children, jobs when I've needed them, desires to pursue, friendships, and
health.
All my confusion...
I was living a
life of blurred lines, in misty gray places, wallowing in the seeming mysteries
of existence and never understanding how things could possibly ever work out.
Even as a believer, I still have those days when I can't see through the fog of
uncertainties.
He
understood...
He never has
been nor is He confused by the things that confound me. He doesn't berate me
for my misunderstanding. He has been patient with my missteps. He continues to
supply Grace through my bewilderment.
All I
had to offer Him was brokenness and strife...
I came
empty-handed, my life un-honed. I made lousy decisions filled with pride, based
on selfishness. Sometimes I still do. My spirit was prone to wounds and
failings. Eventually I knew I couldn't do anything good on my own. Now and then
I'm reminded still.
But
He made something beautiful of my life.
Yes, life is
full of pain, indecision, strife, sorrow, and upheaval, but in every instance
when I yield that brokenness to Him, he lifts my feet out of the miry clay, sets
them upon a rock, and establishes my goings once again.
The verse to the hymn tells the rest of my
story. It goes like this:
If
there were ever dreams
that
were lofty and noble,
they
were my dreams at the start;
and
hope for life's best were the hopes
that
I harbor down deep in my heart.
But
my dreams turned to ashes,
and
my castles all crumbled, my fortune turned to loss.
So I
wrapped it all in the rags of my life
and
laid it at the cross.
Disaster may haunt us. Pain will tail us
through this life. But Jesus can turn even the worst mess into a thing of
beauty when we offer him our brokenness. He's still doing that for me.
About
the Author
Naomi writes from the pristine
north woods of Wisconsin where she and husband Jeff live as epically as God
allows on a ramshackle farm near their five young adults and three
grand-children. Amidst it, she writes about imperfect people who are finding
hope and faith to overcome their struggles, because she believes God delights
in turning lives around. Her most recent title Paint
Me Althena is a work of contemporary women's fiction, and she is the
author of the romantic historical series Empire
in Pine.
She invites readers to say hello and find
out more about her stories, passions, and other writing venues at http://www.naomimusch.com or to look her
up on Facebook (Naomi
Musch - Author) Twitter (NMusch)
and Goodreads.
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