Two sides, Same coin

It’s the day before Christmas 2012. Everywhere you look there are lights flash red, white, green and blue; accompanied by a cacophony of carols, old ad new. There is a general gaiety in the air. There is the usual last minute rush to do some shopping, plan a quick trip, and make the most of the few days off from work, so traffic is of course crazy!  In the middle of it all, there are those of us (yours truly included) who are still trying to figure how come it’s Christmas in August…… Yup! It seems like last week it was August, then the weekend came and Christmas stared us in the face. There has been an unprecedented busyness around the office and an incredible pile-up of work-related to-do’s. For the first time in many years, even my children didn’t make any comment about setting up the Christmas tree. I figure they could tell that mummy dearest was too tired to think about the tree, lol. Thankfully, we finally got round to it a couple of days ago.

As always, there is an air of expectancy; varied as the reasons for this might be. All said and late as it was, Saturday was supposed to be my day to try and key fully into the holiday mode. I had it all mapped out. An hour with my personal trainer at the gym; a quick dash to join the last minute shoppers; a quick visit to a couple of friends; and then home to excitedly await the arrival of my first son from the airport.

I only got as far as the gym though. My personal trainer’s face told me something was very wrong. A children’s party at the club poolside the day before…. a 3year old girl had drowned!  Suddenly, I couldn’t breathe properly. My heart constricted and the tears began to flow. How? What? Why? The answers were truly irrelevant. She was and is dead! In my devastation my heart immediately reached out to the mother. I have no idea who she is, but I visualized a young woman who had lovingly prepared her daughter for a children’s Christmas party, barely five minutes drive from her home and in a place where she had spent countless hours prior to this. How was this woman supposed to imagine as she kissed her and drove off, that that would be the last time she would see her little girl alive? I visualized her home… blinking lights on the tree and in the garden; gifts lovingly wrapped; arrangements made for cakes and food and drinks, etc. So many plans laid out for the holidays and the New Year. How could this family ever have imagined the pain they would go through, in this season of festivities?

All day, I kept thinking about the devastation of this family. I realized of course that there are a million more families out there who had, in times past; and who would, even this season, have to deal with some form of loss or the other. For all their pain, the carols will continue to play; Christmas lights will glow brighter still; fireworks will be even more brilliant this year than ever before. Indeed, life will go on!  As surely as God is real, life will go on. Life will go on despite their pain; despite their devastation's. Life is life! It is a combination and culmination of our various experiences, good and bad; painful and pleasurable.  We will, each and every one of us, have our fair share of life. Life is your one coin, sis; and like it or not, you and I will have to deal with either, and/or both sides of our own coin at some point in our lives or the other.

Yes, life is just the one coin! You and I have the unique choice of determining whether we will spend our lives, or be spent by life. What’s the difference? From my perspective, the difference is in how much of our lives we are willing to try and live in our own strength, wisdom and power; as compared to how much of our lives we are willing to yield completely to God, so as to live in the wisdom, strength and power of the Lord. God has given us the choice… if only we could really see, sis. If only we could really, really see!

The secular world promotes the principle that ‘Attitude determines your altitude’. I so agree! I agree even more so when the spiritual dimension of this simple phrase is considered. It is our attitude to God that determines our altitude in life. Regardless of what side of our coin is lying face up at any point in our lives, our altitude… our ability to effectively cope with our successes and our failures, is determined by our attitude toward God! Success can be greatly mismanaged, minus a recognition and full acknowledgement that God is our source; that we are all we are because of all He has allowed us to be; that our lives and times are in His hands; that He is the one who causes us to prosper. Failures/troubles and tragedies alike can totally cripple us, minus a recognition that our strength comes from the Lord; that He is our helper, our comforter; that He is able to give us beauty for ashes; that He works all things out for our good; that He is always with us; that He is our burden-bearer; that He shares our pain.

This family and all others who are hurting at this time can only but look up and trust that God is God! They do not need to understand their loss; for indeed they cannot! His Word is clear that His thoughts are not our thoughts, nor His ways our ways. We cannot comprehend God, and neither should we try. He is too big for us to figure. As our lives play out, we need to keep our eyes fixed on Him. Regardless of whether we are in our season of carols and twinkling lights, or if we are in a season of gross darkness, He is the source of our one coin… our lives, our all. His desire is that we live to the fullness of the potentials that He has put in each and every one of us. He has prepared us to be victorious even through our storms. He promised to never leave us or forsake us. He is available always to help us go through. He holds us in the palm of His hands. He rejoices when we are happy. He collects our tears in a bottle when life tries to beat us down.

I don’t know where you are in life now sis. I have no idea which side of your coin is lying face up in this season. What I do know is that you have just this one coin sis. It was given to you to spend fully. Apply it rightly, and you will receive full value. Yes sis, full value will come if you keep your eyes on the King, regardless of your circumstances or situation. Only in this space will you and I always come out victorious.  The Lord will help you sis. He will help me!

Be blessed! For you surely are!