He [Job] knelt on the ground, then worshiped God and said: “We bring nothing at birth; we take nothing with us at death. The Lord alone gives and takes. Praise the name of the Lord!” [Job 1:20b-21 (NLT)]
For the last several years, we’ve frequently driven by a house we called the “House of Lost Dreams.” Apparently forsaken by both bank and borrower, we watched as tarps blew off windows, roof tiles grew black with mold, and ivy and kudzu grew on the walls. Eventually, plants nearly obscured the deteriorating house from view as Mother Nature took back ownership of the land.
I think of the people who abandoned their dreams along with that house many years ago. They’re not alone—many people lost homes when the housing bubble burst. At some point in time, we’ve all faced disappointment and, while not necessarily made of brick and mortar, we’ve had to abandon more than one house of dreams. I think of a friend who lost both baby and womb the same day or the friends who lost the spouses with whom they planned to spend their golden years. I know parents who lost children to drugs, an athlete who lost her ability to walk, a family whose dreams were lost to dementia and a mother whose child’s future was taken by cancer. Lost dreams all—financial woes and a foreclosed house are only two of many ways we lose our dreams.
Job could be the poster boy of lost dreams. He still had his house but that was about all he had after losing livestock, servants, children, health and the hopes and dreams that went along with those things. There was Joseph—the favored son sold into slavery. Having lost one dream, he must have thought his future much improved when he became administrator over all that Potiphar owned. Slavery didn’t seem so bad until Mrs. Potiphar accused him of rape and he ended up languishing in an Egyptian prison. Moses spent forty years leading the Israelites and then, because of his lack of faith, had to forsake his dream of ever entering the Promised Land; his forty years of faithful service went down the drain.
It’s not easy to accept that our dreams will not be fulfilled—that they are not part of the future God has for us. Sometimes, like Moses, we cause the loss of our dreams but, other times, like Job and Joseph, we do all the right things and life still goes terribly awry. While circumstances can seem cruel, we must remember that God is never cruel. We may have to abandon our dreams but God will never abandon us. When we’re disappointed, we can despair or continue to hope and trust in God’s plan for us. Like Job, we may lose everything but we don’t lose our faith in God. Like Joseph, we make the best of a bad situation and find God’s purpose in our circumstances and, like Moses, who continued to lead the Israelites to a land he would only view from a distance, disappointment won’t stop us from doing God’s work.
With John’s purchase of his sporty new car, I thought I was done writing about Lynn Johnston’s comic strip For Better or For Worse and temptation. I’d forgotten all about Ted, John’s friend, who suggested a “spicy dish” and some “after hours recreation.” Shocked, John had said, “Your wife wouldn’t put up with you messing around!” Ted smugly replied, “Oh she suspects…The trick is—never let them know for sure!!” Six weeks after appearing in that comic, Ted reappeared in another one. When Ted grumpily refused a ride in John’s new car, John wondered if he’d gotten out of the wrong side of the bed. No longer smug, Ted dejectedly responded, “Doesn’t matter what side of the bed I get out on anymore…My wife left me.” I didn’t see that coming and, apparently, neither did Ted!
As I looked through my basket of Christmas cards, I thought of all the people who have passed through my life. Contained in that basket is a fair amount of sorrow and misfortune—divorce, heart failure, assorted diseases, surgeries (some successful and others not), heartbreak, disappointment, cancer, mental illness, addiction, paralysis, birth defects, financial difficulty, and loss. Yet, within that basket, I also find hope, faith, resilience, peace, joy, perseverance, strength and love. There are children who defied the odds, families facing tremendous challenges with great courage, people who’ve forgiven the unforgiveable, widows and widowers meeting their new normal with confidence, hurt people determined to heal, caregivers finding strength to continue when many would quit, parents prayerfully waiting for prodigals to return, and people who can still laugh in the face of adversity.
In preparation for my mother-in-law’s 100th birthday, I’ve been creating a timeline. After perusing a century’s worth of history, I juxtaposed high points in her life with what was happening in the world around her. During her life-time, my mother-in-law saw the advent of everything from three-colored traffic lights and the Monopoly game to E-Z-Passes and X-Boxes, from pop-up toasters and World Book encyclopedias to microwave ovens and Google, from rotary dial phones and the first airmail to iPhones and email, from the first transatlantic flight and Admiral Byrd’s South Pole expedition to space shuttles, lunar landings and Mars’ probes.
As the weather up north cools, our snowbird neighbors have begun returning to their southwest Florida homes. One neighbor recently arrived from Portland, Oregon, a city that ranks third in a list of cities with the most depressing winters. Their weather forecast alternates between cloudy with rain showers to partly cloudy with a 60% chance of rain and that’s not likely to improve! Their early November temperatures will range from highs in the mid-60s to lows in the mid-40s with a UV index that never gets above a 2. On the other hand, our ten-day forecast fluctuates between sunny and mostly sunny with no more than a 10% chance of rain. Temperatures will rise to the mid-80s during the day and fall to the mid-60s at night; the UV index is 6 or 7. In short, Portland is damp, gray and dreary and we’re dry, warm and sunny (and should wear sunblock). On my neighbor’s first day back in our tropical paradise, while relaxing on her lanai with a book, she happened to fall asleep. Upon waking, hearing the mockingbird’s happy song and feeling the warm gentle breeze on her face, she had a moment of confusion and forgot where she was. Feeling incredibly peaceful, relaxed and refreshed, for a moment she actually thought she’d died and gone to heaven!
Devotions of the Heart 