Looking Back...

A group of us at church is studying the life of Abram, later Abraham, you know, Father of our Faith and all that. The story of Abraham has always fascinated me, mainly because I cling to the haphazard way he and Sarai gather everything and everybody up, and start walking. God tells them to go, gives them a promise, and they believe. What also encourages me is that after the initial following, they do doubt, individually and as a family...they doubt the promises God made to give them a son, to bring them to a promised land...and yet God reassures them, makes them laugh even. I say all this to tell you what happened to me the other day. I was driving to work...such a mundane task...I was wrapped up in getting there...ahead was kind of dark and dreary with the first rays of sunlight beginning to light the horizon. All the sudden, I looked in my rear view mirror and the sun was coming up over the mountains. It was such a bright, brilliant orange that it almost blinded me. It was beautiful. And in that moment, I thought about Abraham and Sarah. I thought about how they kept walking forward, seeing darkness at times, a few rays of light and promise ahead at other times, but when they looked back, it was brilliant. God does so much in our lives that we never see. We may do something for someone, or go through something that is really difficult at the time, but in the end, it's brilliant, and it's beauty. Even the nasty stuff of our lives can be buried and turn up as something new and glorious. So, look back today...your life may have paved the way for someone else to come into the Kingdom. Your mess may have been another person's treasure. Your struggle may have turned into something beautiful...and just go ahead and laugh a little.