On your worst day, it is somebody’s best day. On the day you lose somebody you love, someone else gave birth to somebody they love. When you lose your job, somebody else just got their dream job. Often, whatever we are personally going through tends to paint the colors of life in that perspective. When we lose someone we love, we are reminded of so many things: the fragility of life, the lack of control, the things we would do differently, and so much more. Our lack of understanding is highlighted, and the grief-stricken tears are plentiful.
However, it would be a shame for any life event to paint over all of the vibrancy in your life, and it would be a shame to force those colors into another’s life. To only see through the eyes of grief instead of also seeing through the eyes of wonderment at the miraculous sight of a baby being born. Or, on the other hand, to see only through the eyes of happiness, and to bark “cheer up” to a hurting person because things are going well in your life. We can take a moment to listen, and then look at what colors they are painting and recall when we used those same colors in our lives.
What we experience adds to the canvas of life. You can’t ignore it; dark colors will be added to the canvas. In fact, the greatest lives ever recorded have a great deal of that shade. (Three quarters of the New Testament was written from prison by Christ’s disciples! And Jesus was noted to experience sorrows.) However, what made their lives great was that they could cry with a loved one, tear their clothes, and put ashes on their heads, but they could also praise God for His goodness and enjoy a grand feast! Don’t look at the birth of a child and tell the mother to hold them close because one day they may lose them; tell them to bask in the joy of every phase of their child’s life—to hold them close because it is the most rewarding relationship you can experience. Recall the vibrant colors of your time spent with your loved one that has passed.
Finally, allow yourself to paint in different colors and to look at the whole canvas, not just a section. You may be working on a bright section, or a dark section, but take time to look at the whole canvas. This perspective is the gateway to living the life of an authentic Christian.
“I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.”
Philippians 4:12 KJV
“Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.”
Romans 12:15 KJV
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