Hmmm... all but one group discussion was gone off our group last night. Several of us felt quite sad... things had just gotten going! Several of us prayed about it... and we decided to retry. Start again. I felt pretty good, but later in the day I felt that questioning.. WHY? WHY a setback, God? I am tired. Can you relate to those feelings? I prayed later in the day. And the thing that happened was that suddenly several new ideas popped into my head.. new topics... new meaning. I had previously kind of gotten a bit burned out.
Do you ever do that? Life can be hard.. there can be a lot of setbacks, sometimes one after the next. And then we question.. why? Why setbacks? The thing that echoed in my head was my neighbours words today as she gave me a tree she was going to move from her yard to take inside. It was beautiful.. full of leaves and blooms. But she said, "When you take it inside all the leaves will probably drop off.. But then in time more lush growth and flowers will come back, probably more.. AS IT ADJUSTS TO THE CHANGE."
Hmmm... got me thinking about change and difficulties. Sometimes they are hard, but God says "ALL things work together for our good". Setbacks can often inspire us-- they can change us for the good. You know... difficulties make us better or bitter. Sometimes we have to embrace the pain or difficulty. We need to look it straight in the face with God's help to see what new life God will grow in us.. teach us or inspire us about ourself and Him. Leaves of change. God makes all things beatiful IN THEIR TIME.
OHHH... and as I sat down to add ideas... the group discussions were all back. Gone for the day but back now...COOL, eh?
