Underneath the umbrella of certainty, there is, as always, an uncertainty. Now, while that may sound profound, it isn’t. It’s just one of those things that popped into my head while I was sitting around feeling sorry for myself. I am certain that, after all this time, there should not be days that I come home from work and expect to see a chair in my living room with the man I love waiting in it to welcome me home. But the brain is a wonderfully complex thing and doesn’t always follow along with certainty, objectivity or, even at times, reality.
It is, in a way, like expecting to take a drink of water, and have tea or coffee in the glass instead. It is a momentary shock to the system followed with a quick recovery of remembrance of what was, or was not, there to begin with. Life is very much like that tea in the water glass. It looks like the same old day, the same road, the same surroundings, but, at any given time, a hitch can throw the whole process off.
I don’t like days like that. They usually end up with somebody, likely myself, crying or upset, sometimes angry that I was duped again by my own fatigue or momentary lapse in reality. But days like this come along. If allowed to have control, they will bring down not only that day, but days to follow. Satan loves nothing better than to be watching from the shadows when that happens. In the moment of surprise, he is able to stick his foot in the otherwise locked door and once his foot is in, it doesn’t take him long to maneuver his whole self into the scenario.
I can’t think of anything, other than prayer and the knowledge of just how much I am loved by Jesus, that can push him out and shut the door. It doesn’t pay to be fooled into thinking that if the only part that is left in the stronghold is a foot, then the stronghold is safe. The part that kicks you down before it steps on you is the foot. It will do us all well to remember that. Our minds will play tricks on us, dulling memories over time to register what seems to be important and then building that into something that is extravagantly overstated.
I was having one of those days today. The foot was in the door and just when I was near to being kicked to the ground, there was a knock at it. And at the door was my niece and she had something special for me. It was a picture of a flower that she had drawn and had written both her name and mine on it. It wouldn’t have mattered if it had been a rock from the garden, she took the time to bring it over, in the pouring rain, to shed some joy on what was fast becoming a rough evening.
Jesus doesn’t forsake us when we’re down. He doesn’t leave us to fend for ourselves even when we forget to pray for His help. He knows what we have need for and sends His encouragement so that we can get that foot, along with the rest of the devil, out of our door. Jesus has shown me over and over again that my gift is one of encouragement … just as He’s shown me over and over again that sometimes, the encourager needs to be encouraged. In this case, I hung the encouragement on the fridge and just looking at it reminds me that not only is all not lost, but much has only just begun.
2 Corinthians 12:9 ~ 9And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Addendum: two years later, that encouragement is still hanging on my fridge. Jesus is everything He promised He would be. I am in awe of Him.
A Photographer's Heart 