“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him that is alone when he falleth, and hath not another to lift him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have warmth; but how can one be warm alone? And if a man prevail against him that is alone, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”
--Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Do you ever notice that good and bad stuff seem to happen in clumps? That when you are having a bad day, your friend is often having a bad day? When some giant blessing smacks you in the face, other people usually have awesome stuff happen to them too? I think there is something bigger behind this. This is not to say that this is always the case, but I think it’s a trend. I think when God is working on an individual level; he is also working on a corporate level. Season by season.
As a lot of people can testify, the last year has been kind of hard. A season full of change, disaster, death, and suffering…on several different levels. This year has been traumatic, there have been many “events or situations that have caused great distress and disruption,” whether good or bad. Graduating college, deciding where to live, not knowing where I belong, all normal stages in life, but no one ever said they would be this confusing. Also, so much death, I am about to go to my third funeral this year, which is the fourth one in my lifetime. Even Michael Jackson died, and every other week it seems like some other celebrity has passed away from something other than old age. I don’t understand this, but I do know that it’s not just me who has had a difficult year.
The cool thing is, I think hardships are put into our lives to increase our capacity for suffering, loving, and enduring. In this, we become better friends and family members; we empathize more and actually allow ourselves to feel on every level. I seriously cannot watch two minutes of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition without tearing up. Even listening to the radio station and hearing some kind of praise report hits something deep inside of me that was more immune or numb before. I like it, I like it a lot.
It’s funny, because the goal of my life this last year was to really learn to give and receive “love.” There was one person in my life that I really cared about and had really hurt because I was incapable of loving. Because of this, I really felt like I needed to face some deep rooted fears. I needed to purge all those nasty selfish attitudes that kept me from being vulnerable and being the woman God designed me to be. Amazingly enough, my heart has been changed for quite some time, and due to those changes, I have been able to face life’s difficulties with confidence and stability. Not that my emotions haven’t gotten a little out of hand at times, but overall I know my motives are genuine in loving now because I remember what it was like when they weren’t.
If I hadn’t gone through stages of being selfish and disliking the things I did to people, I would have never learned what truly loving someone felt like. I wouldn’t be able to empathize, accept, and just truly care about people the way God has wanted me to. If I hadn’t gone through the suffering to reconcile, restore, and accept the things I couldn’t change, I wouldn’t be where I am at today in terms of an encourager and supporter for the people I love. My struggles have become a blessing for myself and other people in some round-about way. And it’s the same for people who encourage me in my walk; their battles and deliverance have spoken volumes into my life.
God puts special people into your life during these seasons of “wandering in the desert” and suffering, even if everything doesn’t make sense yet. We are all in this together…and soon enough we will be reaping the rewards of a GIANT HARVEST of Blessings. Until that day, let’s love and enjoy each day as it comes. What else are we supposed to do? Day by day, clump by clump, there are people who have felt what you feel and know where you’re at. With all this death, a lot of new life is bound to spring up….and it’s finally the beginning of SPRING...
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