Ever sit for a moment & find yourself overwhelmed by the object lessons around you? The falling leaves…a weed in the flower garden…a group of camouflaged birds camping in the hedges?
This week has been hard, friends. Heavy. Overwhelming to the point of silence…which is why I’m sitting on my front porch & not at my desk. My brain can’t function. I’m weighed down by my personal pain & that of people I have come to dearly love…
But the world hasn’t stopped so we can breathe….rude. Leaves still fall, & birds still fly. We have to force breaks just to take a breath, & the stress multiplies as we rob Peter to pay Paul from the little energy we have left.
I’m exhausted, & I know I’m not alone.
So, I’m on the front porch rocker, avoiding my laptop & wondering how I make the jump from staring at leaves to staring at spreadsheets…
I know He is in both places, in the Excel file and in the dance of the sparrows. He is in the heartache & the hope.
And He is in the present & future, just as He was in the past.
He was there when we were hurt, hurting with us. Did He stop the pain? No. Why? I don’t know.
He is here now, as we deal with the fallout. Does He make it easy? No. Why? I don’t know.
He will be with us as we walk it out, come together, & heal thru many, many layers of hurt. Does He speed up the process? Probably not. Why? I don’t know.
I don’t know why. I have ZERO answers, but if there is one thing this front-porch-sittin’ reminds me of, it’s this: He remains.
I’ve sat on this rocker for 2 decades on days when I can’t handle the load. There’s something about it that puts a different perspective on the world, with the wind chimes, the critters, the leaves,  & the green. He made all of this & set it perfectly into motion, even in the middle of storms. It’s peaceful when I am not at peace, & He’s met me out here several days this week.
He didn’t take the pain of the process away from His own Son, so why do we feel so entitled to Him taking it away from us? He never promised that.
He promised us that He would Remain.
So here I am.
I’m messy, guys. Broke out, sweatpants, slippers falling apart, tear-stained, angry, dehydrated–I’m MESSY.
But He’s with me. He’s with all of us, & He hurts, too. He sees us in the mess & it doesn’t repel Him. He doesn’t have to come sit down beside us in the mess.
He was already here, knowing this day would come.

The birds come to this porch because the hedges give them shelter. The flowers grow because the weeds get pulled, & the cat hunkers down because the birds look tasty. They all come here looking for something they know they will find, & I guess I’m no different…because here is where I’m finding Him, & I know it’s where He sustains me.

My prayer today is that if you’re hurting (& even if you’re not), that you would find altars in falling leaves & sparrows…that the mundane would become majestic in the perspective of His steadfastness…that the Holy Spirit would be a healing balm to the raw places, & that you & I, and all of us, would see His sustenance in the desert places…there is beauty even in the valleys, when we look at what He can do…