Problems Exposed

Here's what I hate: problems exposed.

Two of the houses across the street are old.  (Which is one of the many reasons I love this neighborhood.) One is a stately, mature “mansion” which has been split up into apartments.  It is mysterious and fairly well-maintained.

The other house, the one on the left, has seen better days.  It’s a little red brick number.  The door is eye-catching with a decorative oval window.  But the various brick planters around the property are crumbling. I can see faded, dusty curtains in the windows.  The yard is unkempt and the worst part is the skeleton of a large carport, which leans awkwardly in the driveway. 

Back when construction of our home began, it was summer time.  Leaves and vines and bushes and foliage were in full bloom.  

However, now, it is winter.  There is not a green leaf in sight.  And all the imperfections of the little house are laid bare.  The gray skies send icy air to whisper cruelties to the crumbling mortar. 

The house frowns.

I shiver. 

It happens to all of us.  We live a good bit of our lives in a summer season of sorts—a lush overgrowth of diplomas, accessories, successes, events, activities, and institutions hide any problems in the “front yard” of our lives.  Lovely flowers distract visitors from seeing any junk round about. 

But winter comes for all of us.  It always comes. 

Job loss, cut backs, miscarriages, rejections, imperfections, illness, divorce, anxiety, and anguish come and rob all the “leaves” in our lives of their nutrients.  The flowers die first—robbed of their sunshine.  The grass fades to brown.  And before we know it, the unsightly “dilapidated carports” of our lives are suddenly out in the open for all the world to see.

It’s terrifying.  It hurts to be standing there in front of the entire neighborhood with all our issues exposed.  What if people laugh?  What if they just walk on by—unimpressed?  What if they judge us for the way things are falling apart? 

But, maybe, just maybe, someone will see the issues in your life and know that they can help.  They’ll begin stopping by to help you sift through some things that should really be thrown out, (you just hadn’t seen them under all the summer vines of distraction). They’ll rebuild brick planters, they’ll paint the mailbox, they’ll wash the windows.  Maybe someone will even know a guy who can either fix or demo that crazy carport in your yard. 

Why?  Why would these people do this? 

Well, because they know that a person lives inside that house. 

A person who needs love. 

A person who has value. 

You have value.

It’s no fun that trials have entered your life and that winter has laid them bare for all to see.  But when cruel winter destroys all of your clever, leafy coverings and people can see your “issues” hanging out, don’t attempt to run away or pretend the carport isn’t yours.  Instead, look to the day when the loving hands of friends will reach out and do what they can to bring restoration to the tired landscape of your heart.

2 Corinthians 1:3-11

New International Version (NIV)

Praise to the God of All Comfort

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 

8 We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God,who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us...