Sometimes Life Just Isn't All That Good

I love this picture.  It was taken at the end of what our family calls “cousin camp.”  It is a time during the summer where all the cousins gather together at “the ranch” and Mary/Amy plan all sorts of fun events for the group.  The kids always have a great time, and this year was no exception – they painted, took a “magical safari” with their uncle/dad Brad, went to the Baylor pool, had a water balloon fight and ate homemade ice cream.  BUT...this picture was taken at the end of cousin camp.  You know what the “end” of anything good feels like – it is a mixture of sheer exhaustion, frayed nerves, and sadness that the fun is over.  Well, as so obviously illustrated in the photo, the kids were feeling every bit of tiredness and sadness that you could possibly feel. (I hope it doesn't say something about our kids that in the picture both of them look significantly more frustrated than the other three....)

One of most endearing traits of children is their unabashed willingness to wear their emotion on their sleeve - they simply aren’t afraid to tell you how they feel, for better or worse.  Sometimes, oftentimes, I wish Christians were more like that…I wish we were honest with other believers and even non-believers about how we really feel.  I wish we showed the world our brokenness and let them in on our struggles.  Celtic author Philip Newell said, “When we let the world inside our hearts and show them our struggles they will be even more amazed at the grace and love that flows much deeper and that is able to redeem us.” 

Instead, modern day evangelical conservative Christians have chosen to huddle up in their mega-churches with their smiling faces and angrily shout to the world that they need to come back to God and join the ranks of supposed eternally 'happy' believers.  And, they are shocked when “one of their own” leaders (too many to count?) is struck down by a moral failure? 

I submit that we try something different…let's try being authentic with each other and the world.  Let’s “become like little children” and be honest about how life can sometimes be down right unfair, and hard….and sometimes it just doesn’t go how we had planned it.  Let’s look straight into the camera of the world and unashamedly own whatever experience of life we are in and all of the emotions and feelings it causes.  Perhaps then, the world will see us for who we really are, sinners in desperate need of a loving God whose grace is more powerful than our brokenness and whose mercy transcends our hurt. Sometimes life is rough, sometimes it beats us up and we get tired and frustrated and sad...but that's okay.  We can show those emotions knowing that they aren't the end of the story, rather they point to a beautiful narrative that runs through the center of our hearts -- the love of God through Christ Jesus our Lord.