Seismic Shifts
Thousands of years ago, Egypt experienced a unique and utterly strange spate of weather occurrences. If you can call them that.
From the land came armies of frogs. From dust came a blizzard of gnats. Riding on the wind came countless, ravenous locusts. Call me simple, but I’m bedazzled by a simple hail storm!
My guess is that these freak weather phenomena, regardless of one’s forecast prowess, can be described best in three words: something to behold!
Here on the East Coast, hurricane season is a real thing. Many have experienced these weather events and know how to prepare. Refrigerators are stocked with food and extra water. Items that can become potential flying weapons are stored and secured.
Then comes the waiting. The riding out of the storm. The clean-up.
Hurricanes often make me think of those ancient “attention grabbers” - those pesky jumping and swarming pests. Unlike the familiar torrential rain and roaring gusts, though, they seem absurd. But I’m also a firm believer that all things are possible.
Might they serve as modern-day metaphors for the unexpected storms that blow into our lives? The ones we never imagine will reach our shore? The ones that blindside us? Suffocate us? With all the attendant grief and chaos for which we are never prepared? Because we would never write such pain into our own stories?
Precious friends recently lost their 15-year-old son and brother to tragic circumstances. Numbing. Physically and emotionally. No words can convey the heartache. The heartbreak. The inside turned out. The upside turned down.
One wonders if the well of tears will ever run dry.
There is no mistaking: this storm caused a seismic shift. Each of us is standing in space and time at an entirely new depth and width. Normal is in the rearview mirror. No one who knew this awesome kid will ever be the same.
Miraculously, though, one week from ground zero and one day after the funeral, the unrelenting flood waters show signs of receding. The freeze-sting has begun to thaw. A glimmer of light now pierces the darkness.
How can this be? Because sorrow and despair never have the final word. Love and hope conquer all. Since time began, every century provides evidence that good comes out of life’s most tragic and unexpected events.
What kind of storm are you facing? A diagnosis? Infidelity? Financial hardship? A wayward son or daughter? A crisis pregnancy? An addiction? Death of a loved one?
Whatever it is, be encouraged! Hold on! Wait expectantly. And trust that everything is made beautiful in its time.