Just sitting here thinking about what to write, and my mind is circling around all of the problems people around me are currently having. Health is a major one right now. It seems like everyone’s family is currently affected by some type of illness. We are in our fourth week of various sicknesses…four or five completely different things happening one right after another. (Mostly to me!) Honestly, this has started to wear on me and I could definitely use a long stretch of health to get recharged!
Health is not the only issue though. Multiple friends have some pretty serious issues of other sorts going on around them. Does it seem like we go through long stretches of smooth sailing and then seemingly longer stretches of being bombarded with troubles? It can seem that way to me sometimes. And when that happens, it’s not only to me, but many people around me as well. Or, perhaps it just seems that way because I am more alert to it because of my own situation.
Thinking of this, I am reminded of a picture I sketched out many years ago- visualize a crowd of people in a wide open space. Thunderclouds are approaching and there isn’t any large man-made structure around to seek shelter beneath. The people start moaning and complaining about the fact that they are about to get drenched. When the rain starts falling, it falls on everyone, but wait…some of the people have umbrellas! They are not large umbrellas that can open up over multiple people; they are individual sized ones that can only be beneficial to each person who is holding one. These little umbrellas pop up here and there throughout the crowd and the people underneath them, although it continues to rain on them just as much as the others, they have a shelter. They have something that covers them when the rain starts to fall. It is not something they mooch off of their neighbor, but their own individual source of comfort and protection in the storm. Amidst all the discomfort around them, they can stay warm and dry.
My point in this is that it rains on all of us. If you are human and you are on this earth, you will go through stormy times- times when everyone around you seems to be getting drenched in the rain and the slop that comes along with it. The difference is, although we all get rained on, we don’t all have to be left out in the rain, exposed to the cold, the sogginess, the hopelessness…the moaning and groaning about the storm that has currently formed overhead. Those of us who believe and follow Jesus have our own little personal umbrella at all times that we can pop open and take shelter underneath. Sometimes the umbrella might be difficult for us to open at first. The hinges may squeak and be a little stiff and rusty from lack of use, but they are still strong and functional. This umbrella doesn’t leak and it is always readily available.
The apostle Paul wrote some powerful words on this topic. He knew what he was talking about because he went through some serious hard times! Here are just a couple-
We've been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we're not demoralized; we're not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we've been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn't left our side; we've been thrown down, but we haven't broken. (2 Cor 4:8-9, The Message)
He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort—we get a full measure of that, too. (2 Cor 1:4-5, The Message)
So as I continue to ponder the various circumstances befalling myself and my loved ones, I am going to remember the image of that personal-sized, but strong, umbrella that is covering me and thank God that He is so loving to make it available to me instead of allowing me to get washed away by the storm.
Oh, and keep a lookout for the sun because the rain can only last so long!
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