 Acceptance with Joy is a goal and not an easy one for me to achieve. I believe in Divine Order and that there is a perfect plan for my life. I also believe that all things work for good and it is within this framework that I strive to cooperate to align my life situations to my beliefs.
I mentioned in past posts that many of my “aha” moments have usually come in my rear view mirror when I have seen that difficult situations have resulted in great blessings in my life. I am again at that cross roads where I am choosing to trust that God uses all situations for my good and wants to renew and restore me. I can accept with resignation or I can choose to cooperate with Joy. Today I am choosing to cooperate using the Joy of the Lord as my strength. With Him, all things are possible.
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All too frequently these days I am reminded of the words of the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz when she warns Dorothy that the last to go has to watch the others go before her. Every time I lose a loved one or friend I feel the void and am again forced to face my own mortality. That is a gift that too often I brush aside, therefore, being compelled to focus, centers me. Even though my faith sustains me, my questions bubble to the surface. My biggest fear is that I will not be prepared. Who can be? Some people leave us after a prolonged illness, others in a flash like super-star, Kolbe Bryant. How many individuals in the lane next to us on the expressway are on their way to say farewell to a loved one as I worry about making my nail appointment? “Please Lord, let me be aware of the suffering of others. Let me be sensitive to their loss and longing as we pass in our day to day lives. Connect us in the knowledge of our impermanence that unites us beyond any race, color, creed or orientation that separates us. I ask this in Your Name, Amen!”
 I was reminded recently that I often take the small blessings in my life for granted and only look beyond for the larger miracles. I love the song: “His Eye is On the Sparrow” and I heard it sung Saturday at the funeral of a co-worker’s parent. It is amazing to me that I am always searching for eagles when there are so many sparrows in my view that are confirmation of the abundance of God’s Creation and the proof of His Protection. In searching for signs I have again been reminded that it is in the constancy of the things I take for granted that I will find my Joy. “I sing because I’m happy and I sing because I’m free. His eye is on the sparrow and I know He watches me.” I am also reminded in Matthew 6:26-32: “Look at the birds of the air for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them.” It is a good reminder to me to always be aware of all the small blessings that surround me daily. I will remind myself each time I see a sparrow that “I know He watches me”.
 The weather outside today is a miserable and even the lighthouse I can usually see outside my window is obscured by the precipitation. However, although unseen by me, I believe it is there. Sometimes that happens in my spiritual life when the “light” is hidden from me and I feel that I am alone and on my own. That is when my past experiences reignite my faith and I remember times when those feelings would wash over me only to discover later that I was sustained by an unseen source of protection. So much of our life is lived by faith in human ingenuity. Trusting that the light will go on when we flip the switch or that the bridge over the river will hold us and all of the other cars travelling across with us. I have faith that there is a loving Creator who sustains me but it is evidence based since I am here, by Grace, sharing with you now. If you wish, please share your experiences of faith to encourage us all.
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