Fellowship with a loving family creates a feeling of warmth that cannot be duplicated. Yesterday, as we all sat around the table eating, laughing, and conversing, the joy that filled the room was delightful. We had come together to eat a hearty meal before out-of-town family returns home.
Sounds of clinking silverware, multiple side conversations, giggling children, uproarious laughter, mixed in with the delicious aroma of soul food, made for a perfect day.
After dinner was over, my younger sister Alesha shouted out, "Look! Is that snow falling outside?"
We all peered out of the window in amazement as fluffy snowflakes gently fell from the overcast sky in mid-April, making it feel more like Christmas time than Easter season.
In that moment, it seemed somehow paradoxical, yet apropos, that springtime would yield wintertime weather. I'll tell you why in a moment. Instead of budding flowers, light scattered showers, and mostly beaming sunshine, we were met with cold temperatures, ice, and high winds.
"Only in Buffalo," a few family members simultaneously muttered while shaking their heads and walking away.
As I sat down and thought about the uncharacteristic weather we were experiencing, it dawned on me that a helpful guiding principle could be drawn from it. And here's why I thought it both paradoxical and apropos, bizarre and fitting, ironic and logical.
You see, this is the way the seasons of life work. There is no method of determining what occurrences will take place during specific times. There is no formula for predicting what tomorrow holds. We can only choose to live in the now and be thankful during every season, good or bad. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
No one in our family expected that, in this season of life, my mom would be battling Breast Cancer. We also had no idea her condition, though discovered in Stage 1, would be classified as "Triple Negative"--one of the most aggressive, rare, and difficult to treat cancers that affects only about 10-20% of all Breast Cancer patients.
But that didn't stop us from gathering as a family for a wonderful Sunday dinner and basking in the simple pleasure of spending time with loved ones.
The longer I live, the more I realize that right in the middle of a calm season, life can suddenly produce a treacherous storm. We may feel completely unprepared and put off by these sudden upheavals, but in the midst of it all, we can continue to laugh and be joyful. We can choose to hold onto our faith and optimism. We can continue to eat, drink, and be merry even through life's imperfections and difficult days.
We can give thanks in every season.
I've chosen to do that and I pray you'll join me.
Ecclesiastes 8:15 says, "So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun."
We have to learn to enjoy life Daily Cup family, even when walking through circumstances that don't feel so enjoyable. Surely we don't live only for personal pleasure, so our thankfulness is not predicated upon that alone. At the same time, we should never rob ourselves of our God-given right to enjoy everyday life simply because it is imperfect.
If we wait for everything to be the way we want it to be, we will never have true joy, peace, and mirth.We will constantly feel miserable, depressed, and in despair.
I love the New Living Translation of John 10:10 that says, "The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life."
This satisfying life full of thankfulness and joyfulness does not emanate simply from satisfying circumstances, but from a relationship with the One who satisfies the deepest longing in our souls, Jesus Christ!
TODAY'S PRAYER: Lord, You already see the struggles I face. You know, more than anyone else, my circumstances are imperfect. But I ask that You help me remain thankful and full of joy in every season. And in moments when I feel my weakest, remind me that as long as I have You, I already have the only real source of joy, peace, and everything good and perfect, living on the inside. In Jesus' name, Amen.
