Catching a Break
I was viewing facebook posts the other day (I’m what my family calls a passive facebook user.) I find all the “important” things that people write about fascinating. Many are very positive, while others show the ebb and flow of real life. I was especially interested when a single mom that I know wrote that she “Can’t catch a break to save my life …” That comment got me thinking. How often do I catch a break?
What does it mean “to catch a break?” The dictionary tells us that it is “a moment of luck in difficult times.” It usually has to do with things going wrong or not as we would like them to go. I was reading a blog post by Rachele Schank entitled “Why Your Hard Times Might Be Your Best Times.” She had an interesting idea. Rachele suggested that “All of these things that you perceive as misfortune in your life are actually good things! Every NO and NOT YET you receive is the Universe responding and re-directing you to where you really need to be.” Now I would suggest that the “Universe” that she mentions is actually God, but I agree with her idea in principle.
Many times we can look at the difficulties in the road we traveled and see how they were used for our good. The key is to be able to see the good while we are traveling through those hard times. Quetzal tells us that “life lessons are found in the dark moments of life, and in many instances those moments change our life for the best”
The apostle Paul wrote to his friends in the Philippian church. He knew of their hardships and trials. They were just humans like we are. His advice to them is found in chapter 4, verses 4 – 8:
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!
5 Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy–meditate on these things.
We all have unpleasant things that happen to us. These can range from some slight inconvenience to a terminal illness. I saw a “rant” on facebook because someone forgot to include a straw with a take-out order. I also talked to a young man with cancer who was assuring his family that no matter what happened “everything would be alright.”
Paul was telling us to praise our God, our Creator, to put everything in His care, and to be at peace because He is watching over us. The drama that we have in our lives would be remedied if we thought about the good things (look at verse 8) that are all around us.
Would our families and friends notice if we didn’t “over react” to everything that happens in our lives? Put it all in God’s hands, think about the good things, and react with gentleness. What a difference it would make. Maybe we would “catch a break.”
Pastor Bruce
Assistant Pastor