Cracked Pots

This is a season of great joy--and great pain. The loss of loved ones who will not be with us this season. The-God forbid--estrangement of a loved one due to hurts, real or imagined. When such a loss or separation becomes part of the fabric of our lives, our hearts break and the joy of the season is lost. But the angels called out to the shepherds, "...on earth, peace, good will toward men." (Luke 2:14). God's Word is true and it is eternal. It was true at the birth of Jesus, it is true today. God's will is peace and good will to you on a very real, very personal level. Yes, you might very well have to walk through the valley of the shadow of death -- through the stages of grief. I wish that I could tell you that being a Christian makes us immune to them. Unfortunately, that is not so. Much of the pain our brethren in the world suffer we, too, will have to suffer. But hang in there. As Dennis likes to say, people sink into depression because they don't realize that life is a mixture (Ps. 75:8), it has good --and it has bad. It's not all good, but the bad won't last forever. Not until the end of times when the Lord will pour out his wrath without mixture (Rev. 14.10). When the bad times do come, the grief, the overwhelming pain, they will give way to peace. Just hang in there. We might be cracked pots (2 Co. 4:7), but it is those very cracks in us caused by our pain and imperfections that allows the glory that is Jesus to shine through. Chin up. You might be a cracked and hurting pot, but that makes you all the more useful , all the more beautiful. There is hope. Life will get better.