Important things

I just finished and sent a long e-mail to a pastor friend in Africa. He's going through some very difficult days and hard decisions. As I wrote the note and thought about my own life and decisions I realize that much of what has happened in my life has prepared me for letters like this. The events we dread, the problems we face and the trials we endure all draw our attention and faith to God. We are forced to trust HIM and work our way through the days one at a time. Through it all God is working in our lives to help us grow in faith and make us usable in the lives of others. What I look back on as difficult days now prove helpful to others as I share with them how God worked in our lives.

When I watch those around me choose badly or simply endure their days in anger and resentment I know that the trials we each endure are provided as blessings from God and will make us better, trusting him through the days or they will make us bitter resenting God for not making our lives "perfect," whatever that means. I would like to fix the problems for my friend in Africa, but if I had the money to help him then I have stolen from God the tools he intends to use to help my friend grow in his faith. My compassion wants to stop his pain without removing to source of the pain. God is working on much more, so I pray for my friend in Africa and for others I watch as they bitterly endure instead of joyfully trust.

The important things? I gave the short list to my friend. The important things are faith in God, love for family, and then the community around us. It all involves relationships. None of the important things on any honest list involves things. The only eternal things you touch each day are the people of your life. The only things that matter are the relationships with God and those around you. Everything else is just the stage for our relationships. The things of life are props for the play to unfold, but the important things are the lives around us....eternal beings swimming in a pool of temporary worries. I so wish we could clearly see things from God's perspective. It would change forever how we look at the tests and trials of our days.