A Life Lived Well

Sometimes the enemy looks like anxiety. Sometimes the enemy looks like depression. Sometimes the enemy looks like procrastination. Sometimes the enemy looks like complacency. Sometimes the enemy looks like negativity. Sometimes the enemy looks like fun. Sometimes the enemy looks like a good idea. Sometimes the enemy looks like he’s not that bad.

Too often, people who need the cheers the most get them the least. Every day, everyone you know faces life with eternity on the line, and life has a way of beating people down. Every life needs a cheering section. Every life needs a shoulder to lean on once in a while. Every life needs a prayer to lift them up to God. Every life needs a hugger to wrap some arms around them sometimes. Every life needs to hear a voice saying, “Don’t give up.”

Surely everyone is aware of the divine pleasures which attend a wintry fireside; candles at four o’clock, warm hearthrugs, tea, a fair tea-maker, shutters closed, curtains flowing in ample draperies to the floor, whilst the wind and rain are raging audibly without.

I wish we would take Him at His word. When He says we’re forgiven, let’s unload the guilt. When He says we’re valuable, let’s believe Him. When He says we’re provided for, let’s stop worrying.

To seek and ask for great and dazzling crosses, and even to choose and welcome them, may be the result of our natural pride; but to choose small and insignificant ones and bear them cheerfully can only come from a special grace and a great fidelity to God.