A Fresh Perspective - 11/28/08
Sometimes life can be extremely difficult: when we lose a life partner, a loved one or close friend; when our health or our finances are stripped from us; when a dream dies; or when we feel overwhelmed by our circumstances.
One way to respond is to shake our fist at God. We can curse God or question God's goodness. We might lose our faith (if we do, it probably wasn't a faith worth hanging onto anyway). God is not bothered by any of that. God can handle our anger and frustration, but it's no way to live. It makes life miserable, certainly for ourselves, and also for the ones who care about us and love us.
Another way to respond is to say: Why did I deserve even a moment of love? Why did I deserve to have this person in my life at all? Why did I deserve to breathe another breath, or enjoy another sunset, or drink in the crisp morning air of another day? How is it that I have the capacity to think, feel, laugh, cry, and to ponder the mysteries of life? It's all gift. There is nothing we deserve; it's all grace.
I love the closing monologue by Tom Hanks in the movie "Castaway." He has been rescued and has had to face the reality that the woman he loves, whose memory and picture kept him alive on the island, has remarried and has a child. He lost her all over again. He is reflecting, talking to his closest friend. He explains how, while on the island, he failed in the attempt to kill himself and then, how he experienced a passion to live.
He says: "That's when this feeling came over me like a warm blanket. I knew somehow that I had to stay alive. Somehow I had to keep breathing even though there was no reason to hope. My logic said I would never see this place again . . . then one day that logic was proved all wrong because the tide came in and gave me a sail . . . I am so sad that I don't have Kelly, but I'm so grateful she was with me on that island. And I know what I have to do now. I've got to keep breathing because tomorrow the sun will rise and who knows what the tide can bring."
Martin Luther King, Sr. said many years ago that his mother had taught him to give thanks to God for what is left. "Everything can go wrong," he said, "but if you are left with air to breathe, be thankful." Some years later, after he had lost two sons, and his wife had been murdered right before his eyes at the organ in Ebenezer church in Atlanta, Dr. King was saying the same thing, "Thank God for what is left."
The Spirit of God is the Spirit of grace. May we all be enlightened by that Spirit to realize that everything in life is a gift - it's all grace.