Life … is this it?!?
By Shannon Ready
When I was a little girl I would often daydream about what my life would be when I grew up. I remember long discussions with some of my friends on whom we would marry (always the tall, dark and handsome sort), where we would live (somewhere from the pages of “Anne of Green Gables”) and what we would be (a highly successful and sought after professional).
Now that I am in my mid-thirties it is funny to remember those shallow fantasies. In some ways the reality of my life now is so much richer than I could have imagined back then. In other ways, life is full of a great deal more pain, confusion and sorrow than daydreams tend to hold.
Looking now at the lives of many of my childhood friends, as well as things that I have faced myself, it seems that life so often goes awry: we don’t ever find our “prince charming”, or our marriage sours, we find we can’t have children or our children are born with disabilities, loved ones become terminally ill or we struggle with health issues ourselves, we find it difficult to make ends meet financially or find that the reality of a high-stress job brings little joy to us or our families.
What do we do when we become disillusioned with life? Do we let our disappointments make us bitter and twisted? Do we turn in on ourselves, nursing our wounds silently or wallowing in self-pity? Do we work harder and longer so that we don’t have time to think? Do we descend into the dark depths of depression?
In the Bible (1 Kings 17) there is the story of a lady whom life seemed to have chewed up and spat out. We don’t even know her name. All we know about her is that she was a widow who lived alone with her son. I can’t even imagine the pain she had already had to endure during the time of her husband’s death. Then, at the time of the story she and her son were starving to death and she had made up her mind to have one last meal and lay down and die. I’m sure life had not turned out the way she had dreamed about as a young girl! At this lowest ebb, Elijah the prophet comes upon her whilst she is gathering firewood and asks her to give him a meal. This, despite the fact that she had told him of her predicament. Surely this could have been the last straw. She could have told this heartless man to get lost. She could have poured out her disillusionment and pain, screamed obscenities at him, or sobbed brokenly on his shoulder that what he asked was beyond what anyone should have to give. Amazingly, however, she does what he asks, and God works a miracle. The jar of oil never runs dry and the jar of flour never runs out for the remainder of the long famine. At the point at which she gives, despite the bleakness of her lot, provision comes to her.
God loves us and cares about us. Even when it doesn’t seem like life is turning out the way we had hoped, we can believe that God still has a plan and purpose for us. Our lives are not in vain!
I have known times of deep grief and pain, where just making it through the day was incredibly difficult. Yet when I look back on these times, I know that God was able to bring a comfort and assurance of His love in a unique and memorable way that has remained with me through the good times. Often the kind words of a friend or loved one, the words of a song heard at church, or a Scripture brought to mind were like life-lines that I clung to – just enough “oil and meal” to get me through the next day. I was able to hear something that was beyond my natural thinking which, during times of depression, tends to follow the same downward spiral day after day. Then, as I was able to find ways of giving myself to others, I would realise there was hope and purpose to my life after all.
We can believe that God cares about us intimately and knows our needs. Being joined to others in his Body (ie with other people who are committed to Him also) provides a context for us to receive His love practically. In learning what it is to give of ourselves to others, we often receive a far greater gift in return.
