Between The Devil and The Deep Blue Sea

“There are just times in this life where you’ll be dammed if you do and dammed if you don’t! For all the times in between just be grateful.” As I look back over my own life, both past and present, as well as the lives of others, I can’t help but think; “What on earth does it take to make people happy and for life to go a little smoother? To make families, friendships and marriages work? For the parents and children who start experiencing the “great divide” when children are around the ages of 9 or 10? Then there’s the slippery slope of “letting go” for parents with their growing and maturing children and for adult children with aging parents. Sometimes I can’t help but wonder where does it ever stop! At this point in our short life story we’ve yet to include; Leaking roofs, bald tires, bad brakes, broken down furnaces, fat bodies, gray hair and sagging skin to just name a few of life’s inconveniences. The in-laws that often feel like outlaws and the expectations we put on every holiday, party, birth and wedding. Then to make matters worse there’s even the funerals that leave us sour and dissatisfied. You know the people who died the wrong way and at the wrong time. Like there’s a choice! And let’s not let forget the fuming devastated “survivors” that have to deal with the fall-out and loss. Death in and of its self happens for a variety of reasons and more often than not at very unpredictable times. It is not a personal attack from God. And the only persons to blame for it in reality are, Adam and Eve! Well, here’s the upshot of it all; “Your Not Alone!” You may feel like it at times, but take heart, if you have one that’s still beating, and your part of the human race, this is the law of the jungle in which we live. Some days this jungle is as close to paradise as you will ever get this side of Heaven. Other days we can feel like we’re riding the waves of a hurricane riddled ocean that’s hitting land fall and it seems like everything in it’s path, including us, is set for destruction. I’m probably not providing you with a lot of comfort here, not yet anyway, but I’m working on it for both our sakes. Identity, significance, worthiness and God Himself, grab them with all your might and resist the devil and never let go. False guilt, unrealistic expectations, codependency and fear are all from the evil one who sought to destroy the paradise God created for us, His children. Unfortunately thanks to our parents of origin, Adam and Eve, once we are born we are living between two forces, good and evil. But, there is no cause to despair, because as John 3:16 promises, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” No, this earthly life will not last forever, but we can do more than survivor and endure. We can however, remember God made us special and unique, we are one of a kind. And if we find our true identity in Him whom He sent to save us, Christ Jesus, we are totally accepted, loved and a creation of infinite worth. All other things will pass away. “Hold tight and hold true to the One Who always loves and holds you!”