Category: Life storms

Life storms, Risk

Keep On Keeping On

Rev Kathy

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Life has often been a stormy way for me. The good news is that I have survived many of the storms in my life. And the poet asks us the question: “Who is happier? The person who has braved the storm and lived to tell it or the person who stayed securely on the shore and merely existed?”

I’m glad I braved the storms. I’m glad I took the risks. I’m even glad I endured some losses. I suffered. I wept. I was often angry. I made many more messes than I could possibly clean up. Whatever corner I backed myself into was worth it. The battles I fought were worth fighting. The friends I lost were not really friends in the first place. To be sure, I did much more than just exist. I weathered the storms, and I survived to live another day.

Life has taught me to move on, to get beyond hurts and bad feelings, to reach out again and again for happiness, in spite of the risks. I have learned to keep on keeping on, no matter what. I love the words of Steve Maraboli:

“Cry. Forgive. Learn. Move on. Let your tears water the seeds of your future happiness.”

Courage, Faith, God's Faithfulness, Hope, Inspiration, Life storms

On to the Land of Promise

Rev Kathy

 

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Richland Creek Wilderness

Have you ever wandered in a wilderness? I have certainly felt at times as if I was wandering in a wilderness . . . abandoned, confused, disoriented.

The Bible tells the story of the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness for a very long time. We find one reference to that story in Numbers 32:13.

The LORD’s anger burned against Israel and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the whole generation of those who had done evil in his sight was gone.

Certainly no wilderness wandering that I have experienced has been that long and grueling. Yet I do know about a personal wilderness journey. I know how lonely it feels, how forsaken. I know that it seems to go on forever with no end in sight. I know that such wilderness journeys can happen when one is ill, isolated, disheartened, grieving or simply feeling empty.

Numbers concludes with the Israelites coming to the end of the long, hard journey. They are now standing on the Plains of Moab, just across the river from the promised land. This is where Moses gives his final commission to the people. And in the next book, Deuteronomy, the end of the wandering in the wilderness becomes a reality.

Look, he has placed the land in front of you! Go up, take possession of it, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, said to do. Do not be afraid or discouraged!”  – Deuteronomy 1:21

And that’s the good word we need to hear. Our wandering is over. God has walked beside us through whatever wilderness we travelled. We are free to move into our own land of promise where life is no longer filled with fear and discouragement. The magic, though, is this: coming out of the wilderness is our choice. God has the land of promise ready for us. We need only to walk into it with courage and fresh hope.

 

Life storms, Love

Love Like that Makes the Planet Breathe

Rev Kathy

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An old Beatles song reminds us of something very important in life:

All you need is love.
All you need is love.
All you need is love, love.
Love is all you need.

Indeed, it is a great message, and one that is so appropriate in a world that often seems to be filled with hate. I wish I had never heard the voices of the presidential candidates speaking of hatred toward Muslims, Mexicans, persons who are immigrants, and basically, anyone who does not fit into their social boxes.

Why so much hate when all we need is love? The wise words of Bishop Steven Charleston move me to a better place. I hope they will uplift you as well.

Love all that you can today, as far as you can, as widely and wildly as you can, without boundaries or borders, giving out your love for all that you see in beauty and nature around you,

loving unrestrained the simple life that lives forever around you,

the flowers in a field,

the sparrows darting by,

the sky and the wind as surely as if they were your own,

loving every passing person, not stopping to count the reasons, but loving as if your loving made the whole planet breathe.

Love all that you can today, for in such love is the secret beginning of what will never end.

Inspiration, Life storms

Storm Clouds Above

Rev Kathy

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April stormed in with a vengeance. I am not often awakened by thunderstorms, but night before last I was jolted from sleep several times. And early yesterday morning, my cell phone blared out a jarring tornado warning alarm. Storms can be alarming.

Life storms can be even more alarming, suddenly intruding on your peaceful, sunshiny day. I’ve had my share of them and I have learned that when you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. In fact, that’s what a life storm is about, changing your illusion of calm, bursting into your complacency, rearranging your well-ordered life.

That’s also what is so positive about storms. Sometimes, many times, my life really needs rearranging. Sometimes I need to break out of my mundane routine and let myself be blown around a bit by a cleansing wind. Sometimes I need to be shocked out of my complacency, especially when I am taking my calm life for granted.

Strolling through life under blue skies with the sun on our shoulders is quite wonderful. But there’s more in store for us, and it comes when the storm clouds form over us and when the lightening flashes across our sky. That gets our attention. Frederick Douglass aptly described what I call a life jolt.

“It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.” (Frederick Douglass)