Good Tuesday morning! Okay, what to talk about this morning... hmm, let's see... Oh, maybe about us getting pounded by hail last night? Our houses in the neighborhood have some brand new holes in the siding and our plants have been flattened, but praise the Lord no one was hurt. I'll be going out soon to do a better damage assessment in the light of the morning, but we had a pretty rough night of it. A storm such as we had makes one appreciate having a home. At first simply for the fact the big hailstones aren't clunking you on the head, but later because the house is still standing while the pictures of places down south show a lot of houses not there at all. This morning it will not be hard to look at my house and realize that it could have gone much worse for us.
The storm has passed for now and the time has come to count our blessings. After a storm in life, we tend to count up the damages, but in Christ we are called to count up the blessings. What a privilege we have to thank God in all circumstances! Will the world call you crazy for thanking God for that truly smashing hailstorm last night? Probably, and they might be right. Thanking God in all circumstances might not mean thanking God for the circumstance. I'm not sure that going around the neighborhood thanking the Lord for the smashed plants, dented roofs (rooves?), and broken windows is going to win me any points with my neighbors. Thanking the Lord that no children were caught outside and hurt by the hail might be getting somewhere.
The Lord didn't go through the world picking out the dumbest of the dumb. We are to seek the Lord's wisdom in all things, and that includes our gratitude and what we thank the Lord for as well. We do not wish harm on our neighbors and we don't thank God when harm comes to them or their property from the circumstances of this fallen world. We are not called to be dumb brutes that thank God for every bad thing that comes along. On the other hand, we can be thanking God that our neighbor is standing after the storm. He might be complaining bitterly and blaming God, but we can thank God that the person is able to stand and run his mouth after the storm has passed. We can thank God that plants will heal, homes can be repaired, and cars un-dentified. We can thank God that the worries of yesterday have passed and that today is a new day.
I looked out the window at my tree that I have become rather attached to and realized that all the money in the world cannot repair the damage done to the tree last night. Oh, sure, if I had a pile of loot I could hire a tree surgeon to spend days carefully attaching the broken buds and branches as best he could. But for all of our technology and knowledge, the tree is best left to heal itself as God created it to do. Like last year, the tree had such nice new growth on it this year and like last year it suffered a lot of damage from the hail. Yet, it didn't give up and die last year and this year I can assume that it will continue growing and striving against the storm as well. When Christ brings us through the storm, we should look to that example and keep on striving and growing in Him.
Take a moment to look up today and give thanks as you pick up the pieces.
Bucky
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