C. S. Lewis warns, ‘We have a tendency to reject the good
that God offers us because, at that
moment, we expected some other good.’
The year was 2000 and what should have been my daughter’s high school
graduation was not to be. I had dreaded
this day for a year knowing that as her childhood friends would be reaching for
their diploma she would be reaching for her next drug of choice. Her friends would be packing for college at
the end of the summer while she would be packing her body full of heroin. As I arose that morning I decided to sit on
the deck during the hours when the graduation ceremony would be happening. I took a chair out there and put on some
comforting music as I waited for the clock to strike. At 1:00, when I expected the skies to grow
black, the music to turn sour and my heart to shatter, I noticed how beautiful
the day was. The sun was high in the sky…the
temperature was perfect and pleasant…birds singing back and forth ...
glistening sun rays on the lake. Time
was suspended and I had been given a gift.
The gift was a perfect moment
transcending my pain, a spiritual view of God’s handiwork over a depleted and
fearful heart.
God gave me His best in
those moments and the gratitude in my heart rose above my present
suffering. Did His best in those moments
change the circumstances in my life?
No. Did my gratitude for those
spiritual things in those moments change the fact that my heart would continue
to break for the following 5 years?
Certainly not! But this was the
point both C.S. Lewis and Paul were making.
By staying alert to God’s blessings in
the moment it is tough to not feel the joy God delights in giving us.
The problem is that we are looking towards future things we
are waiting for God to do in our lives instead of claiming the good things in the moment. ‘Loving a moment doesn’t remove the pain, but
it does make room for joy. Living in the
moment helps us recognize that God can be found in this moment, whether it
contains joy or sorrow.’ Choose Joy, Kay Warren.
‘…make the most of every opportunity…’
Eph. 5:16.
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