Ramblings on Faith
July 2008
It’s been a crazy few weeks around Iowa. Between the tornadoes and the floods, God has been throwing in some heavy stuff like divorce, disease and death. Add a few surgeries on top of that and a fellow like me starts to thinking there is a pattern. Of course, I am always seeing patterns. It’s just the way my brain works!I served for several years as a Chaplain in a Trauma Center, in addition to serving at various Churches for nearly 15 years. The craziness of life always seems to come in lumps. There hardly seems to be a time when just one serious or life-changing event occurs. I have found myself to be emotionally drained and spiritually tired during many of those periods and right now seems to be one of those periods. As we like to say in the South, “I’m all tuckered out.”
Some people seem to live life always tuckered out and others do a good job pretending to be full of energy and high spirits until you start asking a few questions and you find out things aren’t so good there either. Still others have the wonderful ability to take things in stride, roll with the punches, go with the flow…you get the picture. What I have learned in life is that “this too shall pass.” The fact is life keeps coming at us and for most of us it’s usually pretty good a lot of the time. There are always exceptions and there are always extremes and you may be one of them. However, what I have learned in life is that there is usually somebody worse off than me even when I am taking some heavy hits. That said I totally forgot what I was talking about! Oh yeah…emotionally and spiritually tuckered out.
You might be in that situation and you might be thinking this sure is lasting a lot longer than I figured it would. That’s O.K. God is good…all the time! I know, it sounds trite and it sounds too easy but it is a fact. You may need to spend a few more minutes praying, perhaps even a few more times a day you may find yourself needing to pray. You may also need to hold on a little tighter to a friend or a loved one. God never intended for you to go it alone. You weren’t created to be in isolation and to carry burdens alone. Use the opportunities and the people God has placed in this life to help. You might be surprised to find out just how good God is being and you might just find a way to give your “all-tuckered-out” emotions and spirit a well needed rest! If you are going through a period of craziness then take a deep breath, rub your eyes and refocus on the world around you. I am certain you will find God close by, ready and willing to help!
