I was just looking at the different countries where this blog has been read. It's amazing how small the world has become and how common our stories and struggles are for ours to permeate into so many people's hearts. There's a blog I read regularly called "He Remembers The Barren" and while I do not agree 100% with the author's theology, I have to say she has been a welcomed voice of comfort, faith, and support when I feel completely alone. Many times, the most recent post is not the most applicable at the time it is published, but sometimes it hits the nail right on the head...these thoughts were inspired by one such post:
There have been so many reasons to feel grateful this past month...spending time with each other and with our families...we both found ourselves saying, 'it's kind of nice that we don't have children...doing things like [spur of the moment dinner dates, afternoons/evenings out] would be so much more complicated if we had to arrange child-care'. I don't mean to be flip; I'm simply sharing how we express our sense of peace about our circumstances.
I've found that recently, the hardest struggle has been with the world. The world is a broken, lost, evil place. The only hope and joy we have is that Christ has conquered the world and given us sweet redemption from the pain and loss to which the world is doomed. So, it's only fitting that when my eyes are not on Christ, but looking at things/people in the world and of the world that I experience physical pain. People who are given incredible gifts and not only squander them, but actually abuse them! Our gifts, whatever they may be, are from God and are entrusted to us for a time that they may be used to bring Him glory. Matthew chapter 25 tells us about the foolish man who hid his master's gold for fear of losing it. What I see the world doing to its children is so much worse than hiding them! I see them forgotten, abandoned, abused, aborted!! How dare we treat our gifts with such disdain?! It's not grief for my own loss that I feel; it's actual anger and resentment to others. I can be at peace with my lot in life and be grateful for the gifts I do have, but being at peace while there is such evil in our midst...nearly impossible.
So, where does that leave me? I guess it's a challenge. If it's so easy for me to see other's failings by not using/cherishing their gifts...that must reflect something about my own life. What gifts am I hiding or squandering? As this new year begins, that's my focus! I will show others how grateful I am for my gifts by USING them! :) When you give someone a sweater and you see them actually wear it...how great is that? God has given me the most precious and beautiful gifts imaginable...It's time for me to put them on...I've put on Christ in baptism, so what does that look like? What WILL it look like?
