Rain rain go away

We've had a week of rain.  A solid week.  Even the few times when the sun appeared for its 15 seconds of fame, it kept raining.  Gradually, my thinking started to change.  I felt that dry days were gone forever and I wouldn't see sunshine again.

I know that's not true.  So why would I think that?

Because what was happening at the time was so real and convincing, it was hard to believe that life would ever be different.

Our circumstances and emotions hold this power over us as well.  We get enmeshed in what's going on around us, and as it pounds away at our soul and doesn't let up we begin to believe the lie that whatever is happening is permanent.  The new normal.  The way life will always be from here on in.

But that's simply not true.

There is nothing as constant as change.  When things are bad, they will get better.  When things are good, well....there will undoubtedly be a tough bend in the road at some point.

But our God doesn't change.

As the waves crash against the rocks and we feel that all we've known is lost never to return, God is there, and He's the same God He was when things were great.  And when our joy overwhelms us and our hearts sing because they are light, God is there and He's the one who rescued us from all our troubles.

Our lives change. 

They shift. 

Sometimes beautiful, sometimes dark with shadows. 

We never know what a day will bring.

We need an unchanging God.

Life is hard....and then you blog

No one really wants to hear about my latest difficult experiences.  And I don't blame them.  I don't particularly want to hear about my most recent tales of woe either. I'm weary of it.  I'd prefer to leave it all behind.

But I can't deny it or pretend that it hasn't happened.

And I shouldn't.  The circumstances, trials, pains, joys and suffering that have been parading down my road represent the hands that press in to shape a lump of wet clay as it turns on the potters wheel.  It's amazing that with the right skill, what starts as an insignificant colorless ball of substance can be turned into a beautiful piece of art.

But not without some pressure.

Life's been hard.  For me, for you, for my family, for most folks I rub shoulders with.  And when it gets so down and dirty, it keeps me from creative pursuits; I don't feel like writing, reading, blogging, studying, photographing.  It's all I can do to get through what needs to be done and make sure I'm im one piece at the end of the day.

But then it starts to ease up.  The spinning slows down, and the hands, for now, finish their work and let go for a little while.  And I feel the old me return.

And in the midst of my joy, I desire to write.  To read.  To blog.

God is good, all the time.  There are times when His goodness comes through as strong hands providing shape to a lump of clay and let me tell you, it's most unpleasant.  But He knows that if He didn't do that, we'd go splattering off the wheel in all kinds of directions and would never become a finished piece. 

Bear with it. 

Go with it. 

God's working on His creation.  You.