It's Not Always Great, But Sometimes It's Pretty Good

“Are things ever going to get better?”

That’s a question all of us ask from time to time, and without fail we wish the answer was, “Yes.” Unfortunately, life rarely works out that way. A good maxim to live by would be EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED.

There are indeed some very difficult passages through which we must occasionally journey, but then, there are some pretty amazing passages, too.

The last several months have been difficult on a number of fronts, and when I am tempted to ask what could possibly be next, I invariably find out. For instance, I’ve been under the weather now, with a couple of different maladies, for over a week (hence the delay in cranking out another blog entry!), as well as several times over the recent past, and I wonder if I’m ever going to get over whatever is “going around.”

I have seen the loss of many people close to me, those whom I have pastored, members of my own family. Today I was present at the passing of yet another, both a church member as well as a great-uncle. His home-going was easy; one moment he was here with us – the next he was looking into the face of the Lord. The night before he passed, his daughter-in-law heard him ask my great-aunt if she wanted, “…an old house or a new house,” commenting that he was getting ready to have a new house.

He truly is enjoying that new house now. But not everything is sad or painful.

I always had ideas about what I would experience through life, but being an only child, I never thought I would get to be an uncle. That changed when my brother-in-law and his fiancée welcomed little Madilyn into the world this past December.

I don’t exactly know why, but I really, really enjoy the idea that I am an uncle. Perhaps it was the fun I had with one of my own uncles that makes me think of the fun she and I can have together. Stupid jokes, talking dogs, public embarrassment, I’m looking forward to it all. My son enjoys having a baby cousin, as you can see, and as I look into their faces, I realize how truly wondrous life is.


Sure, there are a lot of negative things, a lot of pain to go through. But in missing the bad, we miss the glorious. Without those moments when we don’t know how we’ll make it, we would never be able to see and appreciate the sufficient, sustaining grace of God. While I don’t enjoy the bad times in life, I wouldn’t trade it for the world, because the good times in life are more than worth it.

If you’re hurting right now, ask the Lord to show you all the blessings in your life, and ask Him to pour out His grace upon you, so that you can enjoy those good times even more. And, when you think about what awaits God’s children once this life is over, it just doesn’t get any better.

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