Driving into the entrance of a park among the hills and
gorges around Ithaca, New York, I was astounded by what the water had done. This
was the morning after a heavy summer rain and the road was covered in mud,
sticks, brush, debris of all kinds from the surrounding forest. A work crew
with several heavy trucks and machines had already cleared most of the road and
were now working to unclog pipes that run under the road to accommodate the
many narrow mountain streams that had backed up and washed over the roadway
during the night. Although the rain had stopped, the water continued to run
down the mountains at high volume.
It was early August, and Betsy and I and our son James were in Ithaca to visit our younger son, Sam. Sam was spending the summer with the Finger Lakes Land Trust, and he had discovered many new hikes that he wanted us to see. Sadly, most of the park’s hiking trails were closed until the damaged paths could be repaired. But first, the crew was busy clearing the way for the water to flow safely under the roads, joining with larger streams and flowing eventually into the Cayuga Lake.The water needs a place to go.It got me thinking about the storms of our lives. When our lives meet with sadness, pain, loss and anger, we can be overwhelmed by the deluge. These painful emotions wash over our lives, and, like the flood water, they have the power to do great damage to us. Our storms need a place to go. We need a safe place to direct and take the hardship that threatens to hurt us, to upend and distort our lives. We are in danger of taking out our emotions on others, or deadening our emotions with distraction and addictive consumption, or steeling ourselves away in bitterness.When storms hit, we have a clear path to take them to God. The storms are too big for us alone. We need the safety of God who can bear to know and hear all that we share in anger and confusion. The God who was there for Job, the God who wrestled with Jacob, the God who heard the cries of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt is a God who can receive our sorrow and our anger and our grief. When storms hit, we have the memory of the cross and the empty tomb. Our suffering is shared by God. Our pain is understood by God. With God, we can unleash the torrent of our misery and know that it will be safely received. And then, somehow, it will be redeemed.
It was early August, and Betsy and I and our son James were in Ithaca to visit our younger son, Sam. Sam was spending the summer with the Finger Lakes Land Trust, and he had discovered many new hikes that he wanted us to see. Sadly, most of the park’s hiking trails were closed until the damaged paths could be repaired. But first, the crew was busy clearing the way for the water to flow safely under the roads, joining with larger streams and flowing eventually into the Cayuga Lake.The water needs a place to go.It got me thinking about the storms of our lives. When our lives meet with sadness, pain, loss and anger, we can be overwhelmed by the deluge. These painful emotions wash over our lives, and, like the flood water, they have the power to do great damage to us. Our storms need a place to go. We need a safe place to direct and take the hardship that threatens to hurt us, to upend and distort our lives. We are in danger of taking out our emotions on others, or deadening our emotions with distraction and addictive consumption, or steeling ourselves away in bitterness.When storms hit, we have a clear path to take them to God. The storms are too big for us alone. We need the safety of God who can bear to know and hear all that we share in anger and confusion. The God who was there for Job, the God who wrestled with Jacob, the God who heard the cries of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt is a God who can receive our sorrow and our anger and our grief. When storms hit, we have the memory of the cross and the empty tomb. Our suffering is shared by God. Our pain is understood by God. With God, we can unleash the torrent of our misery and know that it will be safely received. And then, somehow, it will be redeemed.
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