At our house, we are being reminded lately that life is fragile, mostly but not always wonderful, sometimes difficult, and occasionally downright stinky. Some good things have happened - Grace made the varsity cheer team, Jason and I went to an Oakland A's game (and they won), our yard looks beautiful and slightly unruly, and we had an alumni event over the weekend that allowed us to see and catch up with many former students and friends. The chickens are laying eggs again, and Max actually caught 3 gophers and laid them in the grass where we would be sure to see, much to Jamey's delight. But, as we know but don't always really have to think about, life isn't all good - it is also difficult. A friend left a note for his wife explaining why we was leaving her (and his two absolutely beautiful children. A note. Coward. But that's another story....). An amazing boy who graduated from Atascadero High School last year recently died of leukemia. Sad. Hard. But at the same time, our very wise daughter noted, "We are bummed because we miss him, but it's hard not to be happy for him, too" (he had been battling leukemia on and off for 12 years, since age 7). He was a pretty spectacular human being and it was humbling to be around him (check out abcchurch.org and click on "Clayton McDonald" for more information about his life). On a very much smaller and way less important scale, there are always worries about Grace's knee, Max's limp, when our cars will need major fixing (Camry - 250,000 miles and still going strong....), Jason's little league team's hitting slump, my allergies, etc.
Of course, right before all of these difficult things happened, I was working on a Bible study and ran across the phrase "If _________happens, God is still God." We were supposed to fill in the blank with the worst things we could think of. The point is, and I have to remind myself every day, that God is always God, even when things stink, and even when I don't see Him at work. He always listens and hears, always loves, and is always at work, even (perhaps most of all) quietly behind the scenes. This is what we need to remember when life is less-than-beautiful.
