Broader Shoulders

Everywhere you go right now, and everything you see and read is about the Coronavirus problem. It’s definitely a very serious issue because in my lifetime I have never seen everything come to a halt like it has right now. There will be no final tournaments for the basketball season and no start to the baseball season. I am bummed that the Masters Golf Tournament isn’t going to happen, and that every other sporting event, concert, and entertainment experience is a no go too. How crazy is that? Talk about bumps in the road, this is a big bump in the road!

This is a life-threatening situation for sure. So we would be totally justified to focus on the problem to the point of making ourselves miserable. But is that really the right approach? What if instead, we remember that God is always with us, molding us, testing us, and helping us grow. What if we took a different perspective…?

Dear Lord,

• I am so thankful we have dedicated doctors and nurses attending to the sick and needy.
• I am so thankful that we have first responders, firemen, and policemen who are willing to put themselves in harm’s way to help those in need.
• I am so thankful, that we have government officials who are taking massive amounts of action to slow down the spread of this disease.
• I am so thankful that we have dozens of different ways that we can communicate with each other without actually having to be face to face.
• And I am so thankful that when I woke up this morning and looked outside… I didn’t see a world in panic. Instead I saw a whisper of light rain falling onto beautiful rolling green hills in front of me and the sparkling blue pacific ocean behind me. A reminder from you that our blessings are far more plentiful than our struggles.

There are always going to be bumps in the road of life, some of them bigger than others. But we don’t have to let them steal our joy, or our thankfulness. I think we should realize that those bumps are there for a reason, a reminder that we shouldn’t ask God for a lighter burden, we should simply ask God for broader shoulders!

We turn to God for help when our foundations are shaking, 

only to learn that it is God who is shaking them.

~ Charles C. West