Coloured Glasses...

The wind blows hard against my windows this morning, perhaps signalling a change in weather patterns, tinkling the wind chimes hanging outside my door. The winds of change stop for no man/woman...they blow in and leave again as quickly as they came; upsetting, disturbing our peace. They leave behind devastation...trees down, littering the ground with branches, leaves, roots upended, the ground never to be the same.

This Christmas season the winds of change rage for many...time stops for no one...it moves along as we run, stumble, walk, crawl to keep up...standing with hands on knees attempting to catch our breath as the world continues on all round us, viewing it all with coloured glasses.

This grief so strong...how does it not stop the wheels turning, how does that mammoth wheel not grind to a halt with all that has happened around the globe, on a personal level and a global scale...politically, geographically, war torn countries...

Ah dear hearts...we pick ourselves up and trudge on, dealing with the pain, the sorrow, the loss, the horrific news of a life taken too soon...as each day follows the next, the pain lessens its stranglehold in degrees...in nanobytes, in infinitesimal measurements until we can breath again...

My heart this morning aches...it searches for meaning in the meaningless...it digs deep for revelation, for insight into the unexplainable.

This I know...joy comes in the morning...perhaps not the next morning, nor the one after but it comes and it pervades, it sinks in to the tiniest of cracks...it seeps into the smallest of fissures until one day we smile and it takes us by surprise...until one day we laugh at something humorous and just stop, taking a step back to look, to delve deep in thankfulness, in gratitude for Gods hand on our lives. For His unassailable comfort in times of trial and tribulation...His comfort and peace that passes all understanding in times of bottomless sadness and sorrow.

Let the winds of change come dear hearts, dear treasures....it is life...death follows our footsteps and doesn't that just sound morose, dark and extremely unhelpful.

But truth dear friends....truth always...life IS messy....life catches us by surprise, trips us up, knocks us down with a right hook, with a left cross, leaving us bleeding on the ground...

It is in these times that we see our true self, our character rising to the surface...walking out each day with hope, with grace, with dignity, with determination.

Today is a special day...I head to the big city to Christmas shop with one of my boys...finally home after a long shift away up north. Christmas is upon us and I choose joy, I choose love, I choose peace, grace, mercy, compassion and kindness.

My prayer for you today and through the Christmas season is for comfort...for peace that follows grace...for strength in the midst of chaos, in the midst of tribulation.

Find your way dear hearts, find your way to His love....a love that never forsakes, never leaves nor abandons...an all encompassing love that holds us close, enfolded in arms of the kind of love that saves. Love saves us....hope finds us where we are.

Walk tall dear hearts, stand proud and firm in your worth.