Simply Thriving

Today the sky was born grey. Since the moment the grey lightened, the sky has dripped or drizzled or dumped an innumerable number of drops. Grey is kind of depressing, really – almost a heavy color. But today – today it brought out all of the beautiful. I’ve been relating to grey frequently of late. The feeling of waking up “heavy” is a common one. But the grey of circumstance is exposing and developing a whole lot of beautiful in the meantime. What has God, through the grey, birthed in my life? ~ A deep craving/desire/need to be in the Word. ~ A richer marriage. ~ A growing appreciation of rest. ~ A new beauty in the strength of friendship. ~ A developing ability to recognize true joy when it manifests. These “growths” lead me to Ecclesiastes: “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1 The next verses go on to list the things that there are times and seasons for, but I love coming back in ...

This week I had a wakeup call. I’ve been wallowing in bitterness. It started out as walking occasionally, gingerly through a murky puddle of it. Over time, however, the puddle grew and each trip through the (now lake) I stayed a little longer. At some point I waded out too deep. It felt good. Truly, there has been a LOT to be bitter about: ~The sweet babies that I can’t conceive or carry to term. ~The beloved sister that has cancer. ~The broken relationship that time won’t heal. There has also been much to be thankful for, but the longer that I swam in the (now ocean) of bitterness, the less appealing land looked. I’ve just wanted to be miserable. It felt right. It feels right. Cue the wakeup call. I was on the phone with that beloved sister when she pointed out that I was getting lost in that ocean of bitterness – that yes, it was well deserved bitterness, but that it was me that would be enveloped by it in the end. That’s when I realized that I haven’t ...