Blessing hidden in the shadows

“There’s nothing life can throw at us that God can’t use to draw us closer to him.”- Kyle Idleman

In Chapter 2 of The End of Me, Kyle Idleman observes that it’s human nature to do everything one can to stay away from suffering in the first place.  But we take things one step further when suffering inevitably hits.  We do everything possible to stay away from mourning.  And when we do catch ourselves mourning, we embrace avoidance behaviors to do all in our power to make mourning go away.

Pastor Idleman refers to this as a “grim quest to turn that frown upside down.”  However, Kyle explains, that frown won’t go away because gravity keeps tugging at the edges.  Rather than mourn, we shift our efforts to getting over it.  In fact, a man named Jeff Goldblatt founded Get Over It Day (March 9th).

Kyle counters that Jesus wants us to realize we can find incredible blessings hidden in the shadows- but that blessing only may be visible through the lens of our tears.  Through the unique focus of those tears, the intruder begins to look strangely like a guest.

When adversity hits, we can’t see anything bigger than our loss.  The truth is God more than fills that space, including spaces we didn’t know we had.  Kyle concludes:

“. . . those who follow Jesus find that their pain is not wasted.  There is a blessing that seems totally illogical.  It requires climbing to the bottom of the deepest pit, without a flashlight, venturing far into the darkness.  But the blessing is there, and it’s worth everything.”

Today’s question: What Scriptures have helped you find blessing hidden in the shadows?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Spit first.  Dig second.”

Blessing hidden in the shadows

Blessing comes from the inside

Everybody has that sudden, painful longing for yesterday, when they didn’t know how good they had it, just before the world fell in.”- Kyle Idleman

Kyle Idleman continues Chapter 2 of The End of Me with an example the Bible offers to help us figure out what Jesus means when He uses the word mourning.

We mourn the true circumstances of life.  Pastor Idleman defines these true circumstances as “dream busters that awaken us at the worst time.”  We don’t choose or invite them.  They simply kick down the door and barge in.  These dream busters are beyond our control- and they change everything.  Yet, when this happens, Jesus says we are blessed.

Jesus isn’t excluding the worst stuff, nor is He referring to little “character builder” moments.  Commentator William Barclay explains the weight of the word mourn:

“The Greek word for to mourn, used here, is the strongest word for mourning in the Greek language. . . . It is defined as the kind of grief which takes such a hold that it cannot be hidden.  It is not only the sorrow which brings an ache to the heart; it is the sorrow which brings unrestrainable tears to the eyes.”

Jesus’ message is that blessing comes from the inside.  Blessing is not dependent on what happens on the outside.  As Kyle concludes, “There is a blessing to be found only through the shedding of a certain number of tears.”

Today’s question: Following your vocation loss, how have you experienced that blessing comes from the inside?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “The blessing of God’s presence”

Blessing comes from the inside

Living the dream

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”- Matthew 5:4

“The end of me often comes when my dreams come to an end.”- Kyle Idleman

Kyle Idleman begins Chapter 2 (“Mourn to Be Happy”) of The End of Me by remarking that toward the top of his list of least favorite things is waking up in the middle of a fantastic dream.  “But,” Kyle observes, “it seems a law of life that if you’re in the middle of an awesome dream, something will wake you up.”

Pastor Idleman states we’ve all had times when life was on cruise control.  Then adversity blindsided us and the ride got rough.  Kyle explains:

“You were living the dream, and then life was shaking you awake.  So intrusive.  To come awake is to lose something- money, health, work, innocence, some special someone.  If you’re going to live, you’re going to lose.  You will come to the end of yourself.  You might as well wake up to the fact.”

You’ve gone from dreaming to mourning.  But what if, Pastor Idleman asks, you could reverse that equation so that you would wake up from a nightmare to a dream, and mourning could lead to blessing.  Kyle encourages us:

“In the midst of loss and deep disappointment, when it feels like we are coming to the end of ourselves, he [Jesus] turns the page and shows us a new story of hope and redemption.”

Today’s question: What is your response to Kyle’s statement that we must wake up to the fact that we will come to the end of ourselves?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Heartache and shattered dreams”

Living the dream

Mourning and dancing

Bill Hybels continues Chapter 9 of Simplify with a discussion of some of the seasons Solomon mentions in Ecclesiastes 3.  Today he covers mourning and dancing.

1.  Mourn or dance.  Pastor Hybels writes that any kind of loss begets a need for grief:

“If you have recently experienced the loss of a job, marriage, or home , or other significant disappointment- and if you are honest about it’s impact- you will give yourself permission to enter an appropriate season of mourning.”

Bill goes on to list three factors that determine the length and characteristics of mourning:

a.  the depth of loss

b.  our own natural wiring for handling loss

c.  the intensity and pace with which a person chooses to grieve

Pastor Hybels encourages us to be intentional in allowing ourselves to feel loss.  Non-grieving is not a style and leaves us stuck.  Furthermore, isolation only exacerbates our feeling of loss.  We need to put ourselves in places where people can walk alongside us in our grief.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Scripture is filled with descriptions of seasons of dancing.  Specifically, the Old Testament contains detailed instructions for festivals and celebrations God not only permitted, but also mandated.  We need to mark our seasons of dancing, not let them slip by unnoticed.  The author concludes:

“Above all else, give words of gratitude to God, whose fundamental demeanor toward you is goodness.  From Him come all seasons of dancing.”

Today’s question: How would you describe your characteristics of mourning?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Be silent or speak”

Mourning and dancing