Always

This morning on Facebook I spotted a photograph one woman took on what seems to be a beautiful vacation. She wrote that her life was blessed. Moments later, I read of another holiday that a couple are taking. He has been diagnosed with a serious disease that is progressive.  The struggles they will face after this trip will be substantial, and they know it. 

 

We must be wary of calling ourselves blessed just because our lives seem to be going well. It is not that I am such a curmudgeon that I do not want others to be happy.  That is certainly not the case, but as I move among the frail and the ill, I am constantly reminded that God's blessings show up in surprising ways and circumstances. That is true even even when this lingering cold left me surprisingly tired Sunday afternoon. Tyler and I were able to spend some pleasant time together simply watching tv and talking. I was reminded of the words carved on the pulpit in the chapel of a county run hospital:  "There is always, always a blessing." To sit there among the gurneys and the wheelchairs, singing with those so impacted by poverty and serious health issues, I found could only respond, "Yes." I felt that to do otherwise would be an affront to them and to God.    

 

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My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. 

1 John 3:18

​ The Message​    

  

  

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This photograph is from spring of last year.  ​