SUNGLASSES or "SON" GLASSES

A few weeks ago, I joined the staff at a children’s camp to take photographs. The day the camp was scheduled to begin, the weather was unseasonably cold, wet, and just plain miserable, so the start date was delayed one day. We prayed numerous times for the weather to clear, but even after the campers arrived, the rain and wind continued for two more days. I remember praying, “God, we don’t know why you are giving us this bad weather…”  Those words stayed with me over the next couple of days.

I began to think about all the times I’ve called something “bad” because it inconvenienced me or because I didn’t understand God’s purpose for allowing it.

What if…. What if the rain was a physical sign of a spiritual cleansing that needed to take place in preparation for the children’s coming? What if the rain that poured down on the children was a kind of “baptism” or “washing” to prepare them for the good news of God’s Son (and sun!!)?  What if… the rain this year will help us plan for a better camp next year? I wonder how often we call something “bad” when in God’s eyes it is really good?

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than yours and my thoughts than your thoughts. 

(Isaiah 55:8,9).

Unfortunately, these verses are sometimes used as a Band Aid to gloss over horrific tragedies. On the other hand, when it comes to day-to-day living, it’s worth stopping to ask if God is seeing a particular situation through a different lens.

There’s nothing wrong with wearing sunglasses, but “Son" glasses will give you a long range view, a clearer picture, and perhaps a glimpse of what's on God’s heart. Which glasses are you wearing today?