I remember when I was first
trying to process the death of my father. There was so much about what had happened that
didn’t make any sense. I had no
theological categories to put this in, at least ones that brought any
comfort. In moments of unexplainable
pain, words and answers can become very cheap.
What was I supposed to do with this?
This is one way some of my
questions were answered for me.
I saw this wall, with pegs on it.
This is what I heard: These pegs
represent places to put questions we have about the things that happen to us in
this life. When things come along that we
don’t understand,, we hang that on a peg.
Oh trust me, the questions won’t go away. They still linger, but it no longer haunts. I believe that God is infinitely larger than
us and any problem we may face, so in a tangible way, we are acknowledging our
total dependence and trust in Him by hanging our questions on a peg. I’ve come to learn that life is never just
about answers, because sometimes there are none. It’s about trusting the One we take our questions
to. It’s about believing we are loved,
and learning to trust in the One who love us.
There have been times in my life
when I get an answer, and I can go up to one of those pegs and pull one
off. There are some that have been
hanging up there for a very long time, and some, if I can be honest with you, I
know I’ll never get taken down. So,
there they hang. And I’m learning to be
okay with that, as I continue to learn to trust.
So, I just put another thing on a
peg, this time that “thing” is Miley. I
don’t have an answer, just tears. I
can’t make it go away, but we can hug. This
makes absolutely no sense at all. But in
the middle of the pain, here is what I’m praying: that the God who is ever present, the one who is
close to us today — as close as those notes were in chapel yesterday — that we
sense He is walking through this with us, not separate from us; sharing our
pain, not removed from it; bringing us comfort, as One who knows what it means
to need it. Because:
“For everything
there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
A time to weep,
and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
and a time to dance!
For us, it’s time to mourn. But one day, we will dance!
Text for the week: Ecclesiastes 3:1 & 4
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