Sacred Cynicism

What a week this was going to be. After all, I had been looking forward to this week for months. Some friends, my brother and I were all going to northern Michigan for a few days of golf in a beautiful setting. I had been counting down on the calendar toward these days for quite some time, and as midnight came around Sunday evening, my countdown made it to two days left. All that changed in only an hour.

After only an hour of sleep I was awakened by a rather intense stomach ache. Two minutes later, that ache made it around to the right side of my back. A few minutes later, I knew exactly what was happening – a kidney stone. I tried to make it to the Emergency Room, but could not drive. I called my wife, who came home and drove me to the hospital. The staff confirmed my fears, and it started a two day process of pain medication, IVs, and eventually surgery to remove the stone. So the week that started with high hopes for great golf had now turned into pain, surgery, and recovery. This is not what I had in mind.

All of us have been in situations similar to this, where our high hopes have been dashed by unexpected illness or bad news. When times like these arise, how do we respond to these sudden bursts of trial and pain. Here are some things in which I have been reminded this week.

1. Be thankful. Why would anyone be thankful when things are not going well? There are many who have only experienced the worst of what life sometimes has to offer. For me, trial and serious hardship have been a visitor, not a permanent resident – for that, I am thankful.

2. Look around and be kind. As bad as the week is, it is not anyone else’s fault that a kidney stone lodged in my ureter, and I am not alone in my trial or pain. Perhaps there is one close to me who is also struggling, and would listen to one who is also going through trial. Maybe there are things I can do in trial that I could not do when all is well.

3. Listen for God’s voice. Don’t get me wrong – God does not give us trial just so He can talk to us. However, Scripture does tell us that when we are undergoing trial, we are sharing in the very life of Jesus Christ. Somehow, we are united with Christ in bad times, in ways that are not possible when all is well. If this is true, then maybe we should listen for God’s voice in the midst of pain and trial.

4. Live rightly. When I went to bed Sunday night, I did not know that my week would suddenly change just a few minutes later. In a larger sense, none of us are guaranteed anything. Any moment could be among our last. Live in such a way that if this is a last moment, there are no unmended relationships. No unreconciled arguments, no expressions of love that are left unsaid. May we not leave the important stuff for later, the time for the important people is now.

5. Live rightly, part 2. With this realization that nothing is guaranteed, have we lived rightly before God? Perhaps there is a barrier that has kept us from a close walk with Christ. Now is the time to take care of that. Confession and forgiveness should be a regular part of our world. When we do wrong, when we live selfishly, we need to take time to confess those things to God, and to each other. Hospital rooms are tough enough, we should not wait for those times to say the things we should have said months or years before. Do it now.

My prayer is that none of the people in my circle have one of these weeks of trial or pain anytime soon, though I imagine that some of you will. My encouragement is to live in such a way as to make these times of trial meaningful, and without other pains of life bleeding into these weeks. SO in this next week, find some things to laugh about, find some people to love, and spread that love to some new people in your life.