n. Ability to view things in just proportion.
adj. in just relationship, with the important and the unimportant things in their proper places.
(according to Webster's universal English dictionary)
Of late my life seems to be one lesson in perspective after another. Just when I begin to feel as though I can't handle one more thing or one more person coming and telling me about something that's gone awry in their lives, I find myself sitting down again and reaching for the wisdom of Psalms or Proverbs to try and make some sense of it all. Funny thing is, I have failed miserably to do so, well not to find wisdom in the scriptures per se, but rather in the carrying out of them. I have had to stop and remind myself to take inventory of the last year and just look at all the things I and my friends have endured and realize that through all of them, God never failed me or them. Just when we felt like we couldn't bear another second, something happened that caused us to realize that indeed we could with God's help.
For myself personally, this year started off with a bang for the bad with some deep hurt carved into me by someone I love very much. This coupled with the already strained emotions of being stretched spiritually to a place I honestly did not expect to be before I was sixty made life difficult. One wound scabbed over while another was created. Still enduring the spiritual stretch I had to watch a dear, dear friend finally have ultimate healing from her disease but leave behind a spouse and child with a million questions and emotions about the entire process. To this day I miss her hugs and quirky faces and humor. (there is a blog post about her earlier this year) The middle and latter parts of the year have seen pains creep in from more deaths of loved ones and friends, to the family chaos created by one desperate soul. This year I have watched my family mourn the loss of my grandfather (also a blog post), endure the trials of moving my grandmother to assisted living and try and pick up the pieces left behind. I have seen my friends endure deaths of loved ones, major health problems or health scares, near death health for a few, talk of cancer more than a few times, marriages that are falling or have fallen apart, children turning away from God and any host of other catastrophes, but through it all, there is always a positive just like I mentioned in my last post.
In spite of the hurts and pains, there are celebrations. Celebrations of a spiritual battle complete, of new life in this world and in Christ, of health restored, of a bond created that can not be broken by man, of weddings, new jobs, engagements, home purchases, debt paid off, and on and on. I have seen some of the best and worst in people over the past year, and can look back with a true perspective(n) of life. Challenges will always come, but they will always go as well. So as someone asks me every day and I answer honestly, yesterday in my head was a mostly sunny/partly cloudy kind of day. Tomorrow? Who knows, but I accept it no matter because I know in the end, the sun will be shining.
