When Life Doesn't Make Sense
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28
Sometimes I just want to walk away from it all and forget about what’s going on. Yes, I know this is called escape. One way that I enjoy escaping is shopping thrift, consignment and antique stores. A few weeks ago, my husband and I landed in a wonderful antique store. We laughed as we pointed out to each other many things that we have in our own home or that we grew up with. It’s quite interesting when you realize that many of your belongings are what people deem as antiques. And then the truth hit us that we must be antiques also. Needless to say it made for a good day of fun and laughter!
The following week I couldn’t wait to return with a girlfriend who enjoys the same kind of adventure as I do. She came home with several treasures, but for me it was only one old silver spoon to add to the antique vase on my coffee bar. She went one direction in the store, while I went another, because I wanted to snap a picture of something I had seen the week before.
There it sat on an old vintage table, with many other treasures displayed around it. It was a simple bowl filled with old scrabble game tiles. I had paused in front of the letters on the previous trip because it somehow felt like life right now: a scrabbled mess that makes no sense; a bowl full of letters with no meaningful words.
I remember enjoying the game in the past. Each player carefully draws seven tiles and puts them on their rack. On his or her turn, they place two or more of the letters to form a word lined up on the board. The next player connects with one of the letters to make their own word, and on it goes.
So, there in front of you is a jumbled mess of letters. You stare at it. You move the letters around. You stare a little longer. You rack your brain and still no word appears. Then suddenly you see a word. It may be as simple and insignificant as “be” or “do,” nonetheless it is a word. After recording your tiny score, you choose two replacement letters only to find that they don’t help at all. It is just a bunch of letters that make no sense.
All would agree that this is the most jumbled and scrabbled time of life that we have ever known, but surfacing in front of us are some important words. Right there in the middle of the mess, you see HOPE. And then through much prayer you receive POWER. LOVE and deep compassion arises for your fellowman that is suffering and struggling just like you. FEAR practically jumps onto the board of your life, but FAITH pushes it aside and takes its place. In the ESCAPE you suddenly find LAUGHTER connected with someone else’s search and together you find LIFE still has great meaning. In the middle of devastation, you encounter God face to face and a greater BELIEF takes over your life. GOD always shows up and uncovers PURPOSE in the midst of all the unknown. He is lining up the words of your life and writing a beautiful STORY for His GLORY.
In time you realize that you are NOT ALONE, but you are a part of a much bigger picture. Soon you begin to be GRATEFUL and THANKFUL for His FAITHFULNESS in all things.
Look a little deeper and emerging from all the confusion and mess, you too will see the hand of God at work all around you. With your eyes fixed on Him, you will see more clearly what was seemingly hidden. Hidden within scripture, words begin to pop off the page and before you know it, you see the WORD He has been lining up all along.
I somehow believe that God enjoys scrabble!