The final blog of 2016

I want to wrap up my 2016 blogs by speaking about something that, until recently, I didn’t really know; I had a vague inkling but I couldn’t articulate it before now.  That would be this: whenever you are in a storm of life, there is a propensity to focus on the pain, heartache, and agony you find yourself in.  I think this is natural and understandable.  But the danger of this mindset is that it effectively blinds you to all of the good gifts that God has graced you with.

My eyes were opened to this notion through the words of Ravi Zacharias.  Ravi speaks about this in his fantastic book “The Grand Weaver” (a book that I would highly recommend to you, by the way; just the introduction is worth the price of the book).  He puts it this way:

“More and more when something terrible happens, we declare “That’s life!” – as though disappointment and heartache declare the sum total of this existence.  We miss the roses and see only the thorns.  We take for granted the warmth of the sun and get depressed by the frequency of the rain or the snow.  We ignore the sounds of life in a nursery because we are preoccupied with the sounds of sirens responding to an emergency.”

I deeply resonated with those words.  Because of the acute pain of my dad passing away 17 months ago, and the aftermath of this event that still affects me to this day, I have a tendency to be "preoccupied with the sounds of sirens" as Ravi Zacharias put it.  Like it or not, I know pain.  But, the truth is, there are also delights, enjoyments, and blessings in my life.  Ravi's words presented me with this challenge: don’t let the suffering of life desensitize and numb me to the gifts of life.  I grant you that this perspective is a difficult one to balance, but it’s one of the things I’m going to focus on cultivating.

In the spirit of contemplating the good things in my life, I wanted to conclude by thanking you for taking the time to read my thoughts.  I painstakingly pour my heart and soul into these blogs.  It’s such a blessing to know that you are reading this content.  Thank you so much!  If it is the Lord’s will, I’ll share with you again in 2017.  Until then, as my dad used to say, “God bless!  Keep your hand in His hand, and keep on keeping on.”

Kevin