We search for meaning in the tough parts of life. We have a desire to know why a tragedy happened, why we lost a job, a home or a loved one. Our efforts are spend figuring out why as an individual, a community, or a nation has suffered a loss.
In those moments of trouble, if we know we have not been doing all we could to prevent the trouble in the first place, hopefully we can see where we could have changed course and we can take steps to correct our paths in the future. But when we are moving along, doing what we should, when we should, and why we should - that is a different story.
Life is suddenly changes. The smooth soil of our existence is suddenly overturned, with it taking the things that we have worked so hard to grow in the gardens of our life. Our happiness is shaken and battered. Our home life can be uprooted. Our sense of security and ability to see forward to brighter days can be buried underneath, hidden by the darkness of all that has fallen upon it. We try and try to till the soil, to bring it back to it's normal state. We look for remedy and reason, but the garden just does not go back to what it was before the trials hit.
The garden of life gets overturned and plundered for so many. We may know the person or the tool used. We may even know the reason why the person or tool was used. But we struggle to find a reason why it was OUR lives that were a part of the reaping.
However, what often gets planted after the bad things in life offers hope. Compassion and understanding from ourselves to others and from others to us, become the seeds of new life. With the water of patience and the sunlight of care, seedlings emerge and a new and different abundance fills our soil. The garden can flourish and thrive again. And in time, the garden returns.
The reason why it was our garden my never be answered. But, goodness and kindness that others and ourselves are willing and compelled to give to those who are suffering offers hope, faith and a sense of security. It plants the seeds that allow life to continue on, differently than before, but with the ability to once again be abundant. From the destruction and darkness the garden springs back to life, and it is Growing the Good.
Amazing post Angie. I kept thinking as I was reading "only in God is my soul at rest". I thirst for the abundant life He has to offer. I love the seeds of hope you plant for your readers. Life has shown me that the garden does spring back to life....good life!
ReplyDeleteVery true... and I think that sometimes the only reason for bad things to happen is just the corrupted world where we live... unfortunately there's pain and suffering and I think most times it's not "God testing us" ... I think many people think of Job often to make sense of bad things going on and thinking God is behind it... "He gives and takes away" was something very true for Job but it doesn't mean God is giving us things and taking them all away all the time... I think He gives, gives and gives and Job's case was a very special, specific, individual one... For the rest of us... we might never know "what caused" our pain or tribulation but we do know that even if it was just "the pain of living on this earth that hasn't still been delivered yet" we have hope that our life here is just momentary and any pain with it is momentary too... and also that God will NOT WASTE the pain His Children go through and even if He didn't necessarily cause it, He can use it to grow us, strengthen us and help us become more Christ like. Great post! :) thanks for sharing!
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