There are days that you wonder what in the world you have to complain about, the sun is shining for unending eternity, smiles are genuine, you’re living the American dream as my friend always answered when asked how he was. Life is good!
It’s like the forces of nature calm and the southern winds collide with the north, and that cool greets you in the morning with a kiss on the cheek, you know that all is well, deep down in your soul.
Then there are other days when tensions flare between one and another, when like minds split into polar and selfish opposites, and you realize you must retreat to your corner until such time as it is deemed safe to venture forth and try, try again, without wanting to hurt someone in the process.
Such is the seesaw that is relationship. With a spouse, a mate, a coworker, a neighbor. I was brought to humility one recent morning when ‘arguing’ with my mother about a singular topic on which we disagreed. There was little common ground, we each held to our separate and stubborn belief because after all, it was what we knew, until we each laid down our pride and peacefully listened, not just heard, one other. Realization set in that to hear her side was not to alienate my own stronghold; it was more to recognize our two distinct views of the same scenario and validate the truth in each.
I can hold up a penny between you and I and have you look at one side and explain what you see and I can be looking at the exact same penny and describe a completely different scene on the other side and then argue about what that penny looks like. Alas, two sides of the same coin.
The fight is most often about making someone aware of what is seen on your side of the coin, without too much time spent looking for a different perspective on what someone else might experience. Deeply looking into that perspective opens up a door to that fresh cool breeze in an otherwise thick humidity filled air.
My momma is, and has always been, my most ardent and unconditional supporter. She needs to know that I am hers also. I have always known that “It Is Well With My Soul” is her favorite hymn. What I didn’t know until this past year, was what that song was written about.
Horatio Spafford penned the lyrics after learning that the ship his wife and daughters were sailing on, had collided with another ship and sank. His wife survived but all four of his girls died. His only son had died previously. I heard this story last summer in my car while listening to the audio tape of Max Lucado’s ‘Anxious for Nothing, Finding Calm in a Chaotic World’. I don’t know how long it took for him to work through that kind of pain and then write the words to that song and it is hard to fathom anyone finding peace in that kind of devastation, but his faith allowed him to do so. It’s worth the cost of the CD set to hear Lucado describe it in his grandpa comforting voice.
And it’s so true. Every kind of storm imagined and unimagined will befall us all, in our lifetimes. It is in the face of the chaos and trial that we seek the shelter of the inner quiet and peace that will keep us strengthened each new day as it breaks, grateful for another chance to understand another’s heartbeat and stance. My mom is the very essence of this song. Her faith has let her know it is well, deep within her soul even in the face of external calamity. It is still well.
The thing about seesaws and why children love them so, is that in spite of the plummet to earth the bench makes, the soar to the heavens awaits.
Look to the heavens in the midst of your storms. He is there waiting…
Elaine
‘When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to knowa
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life,
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.
