Thoughts on Toast and Tragedies

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you, and make you strong, firm and steadfast.  1 Peter 5:10 (NIV)

It always feels wrong to me. While others are hurting, I’m doing mundane things like making toast or taking the dog for a walk. The dissonance is jarring. Today, my mind is spinning from the latest horror and the endless horrors that preceded it: hurricanes, earthquakes, large and growing refugee camps, and Nigerian school girls captured by Boko Haram, some released and recovering, some still enslaved. Endless stories of suffering on a scale I have never experienced and can barely comprehend. Then, there are the “smaller” stories in cancer wards and nursing homes, on city streets and in broken homes that break my heart as well. I feel bewildered at the dissonance and juxtaposition of suffering elsewhere and life as usual right where I am. Should I be making toast and planning a get together today? Is that even right?

And yet … perhaps carrying on is the best response in a world gone mad. Perhaps the best we can do, after the money has been sent and the prayers have been prayed and the tears have come, is to simply go on living, grateful for a pocket of quiet in our corner of the world—and more aware than ever of life’s fragility. To live consumed by fear and terror solves nothing. Maybe that heightened sense of gratitude is a good thing. Maybe that desire to hold your loved ones a little closer is heaven-sent. So, I’ll be grateful, today, for the undeserved quiet I’ve been given in which to make my toast. I’ll give thanks and hug my loved ones close. And I’ll pray. Will you pray with me?

Dear Heavenly Father,

Hold and comfort all who are hurting today. Be tender with them; show them mercy and glimmers of light in the darkness. Remind them that You are Light and that our stories do not end with death but rather truly begin … that eternity is reality and life after death is seriously even more important than life now because it goes on forever.

Show me how to help. Give me a generous heart and purse strings. Prompt me to pray and to show kindness wherever I can. Help me to appreciate and value the mundane days of making toast as a rare gift on this broken planet. And if and when my time of suffering comes, oh, Lord, make me ready. Help me to always feel Your hand in mine, holding me close and drawing me ever nearer to my forever life with You.

Lord Jesus, we await Your return, longing for the day when all things will be made right. Until then, guide us and show us how to live grateful lives in light of Your sacrificial death on our behalf. Always, Lord God, we look to You.  In the Name of Jesus, help us. Amen.

You are loved,
Sharon

Sweet Selah Ministries

Vision
To encourage a movement away from the belief that “busy is better”
and toward the truth that stillness and knowing God matter most—
and will be reflected in more effective work and service

Mission 
To offer resources and retreats that help women pause (Selah)
and love God more deeply as they know Him more intimately (Sweet)