Reflections: Making Sense

This is the last week of just one post.  Been fun reflecting but it's time to move back into the devotionals.  Thank you all for reading; look forward to some new and exciting things next week!

Reflections: Making Sense

“Life is not something you go through, it is something you grow through.”

~ Lyfe Jennings

The world does not make sense.  I know this seems like a silly, or even cynical, thing to say, but it is true.  How often has a good person been overlooked for a position and a person who does not seem to deserve anything get promoted? Or someone who is so young and full of promise suddenly passes, while old fools seem to have been preserved for the long haul?  Or even how love can seem so close, but far away because it does not feel right to all persons involved?  No, the sums of these equations are not so whole integer plus whole integer, which is confusing, because it should all be simple.

Recently, I traveled to support a friend of mine who experienced a sudden tragedy. My job was to go, be a friend, and be present, in the moment, for them, or so I thought.  The trip was one that would have occurred anyway, the following week actually – my friend is moving so it was to be a last hurrah kind of deal, which is why I was able to get there so quickly.  When I arrived, I was able to embrace a city that was long since forgotten and see people whose voices I have only heard in the past four years.  Most surprisingly, I was reminded of a time when I had more drive (though, admittedly, less direction), more ambition and more thirst for experiencing the world.  In the midst of a seemingly selfless act, I found myself sitting face to face with me.  At the farewell breakfast, to my friend’s confusion, I was thanking her for the opportunity to be in great company.

An old hymn says we will understand it better by and by.  I am not too sure the time frame of “by and by” but it is not right away.  It is typically in the aftermath of destruction, or after all the pieces come back together that we see where it all works for good, at least what we think for good is.  I will never understand why sadness was necessary to reignite my own drive, but I am grateful for the mixed blessing.   Perhaps we get comfortable or take things for granted or even relax our intentionality so that we are not even aware that we stopped living in the moment.  Or maybe it is to call attention to the patterns we fell into that may not be so healthy for parties involved.  Whatever it is, I am reminded to look spiritually for the solutions and, as Romans 12:2 read, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”  My mind has definitely been renewed, even though the why is not yet comprehensible.

Consider, this week, the total blessing in a selfless act. Even if it does not make sense, just make note, for it will all come together in the near future.

Amina S. McIntyre