Not the time for weeping

The boy glanced at me with a worried look on his face as he tossed the ball to Shadow, the black lab. My dogs love Shadow and whenever we pass his yard, they stop to have peeing contests with each other. I knew Shadow's owners had two small children, not a teenage boy. The boy looked kind, and vaguely familiar, but I knew he didn't own Shadow and wondered why he was in the fenced yard.
  
As soon as my dogs hurried over to greet Shadow, the boy blurted out, "I feel so sorry for him...he's always alone. I came over to play with him."
"That's very kind of you," I said, "I'm sure he appreciates it."
"I come over after school whenever I can. He seems lonely."
Shadow barked as the boy tossed the ball across the yard. The boy relaxed now that I was not going to report him to the police for climbing into a yard that was not his own.

We chatted a little longer and then I went on my way. I was filled with a joyful hope for the future. I thought of my emails back and forth with my dad. He is buying an electric car because he is convinced that we are about to lose access to gas and he is buying the cute little car "for survival." I suspect he just really wants the cute little car, and the survival tact makes the purchase fly with my mom, but the whole doom and gloom scenario had made me a little depressed. What kind of a world would my children be growing up into? It does sometimes look bleak.

There have always been bleak times. As I mentioned, I am in one of my favorite Bible books, Nehemiah, and before the Jews began rebuilding Jerusalem, they cried, "How can we build with all this rubble?" The walls were fallen, the buildings smashed, and before they could even begin to rebuild, they had to clear away the debris. Talk about hopeless! But Nehemiah was an optimist, and a leader, and a man who loved God. He not only oversaw the rebuilding of the city, but when it was all done, he set his people down and read to them from the dusty Book of the Law, the scriptures, that they had forgotten. The people wept because they had neglected God for so long. I love what Nehemiah told them- "Now is not the time for weeping! Now we have God's word again- it is a time for rejoicing, for moving forward, for hoping!" (PS- this is a paraphrase, but you should read Nehemiah and check it out. You cannot read that book and come away sad.)

I watched Shadow playing with that wonderful boy as we continued on our walk, and the worries about gas and my childrens' futures dissipated a little.
"Now is not the time for weeping," I thought, "We have God's word. Now is the time for rejoicing."

Nehemiah 8:10
Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength

Sufficient unto itself

Sometimes in between ripping out your hair, you just gotta smile. Amy is still in the hospital and still on heavy duty drugs for pain, though being weaned from them. But Matt got an awesome job offer for a summer internship. First year law students have a very hard time getting paid internships. He was willing to do one for free.  He still isn't certain about all the specifics and how it will work, and especially will his soon to be wife be able to join him in the Florida job til he returns to law school in August. But right now, it sure feels like a gift hand delivered by God. Every time I opened my eyes in the night I whispered, "Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou....."

He did get one other offer but I won't share too many of the details on that in case there are hit men out looking for him. Not only was that one unpaid, but he would be required to carry a sealed envelope back and forth between DC and Tehran. They cautioned there were certain risks involved in this law internship, one of which was wearing a belt that detonated when he pushed a little red button, blowing him and the "sensitive" contents of the envelope to smithereens.
"I am not sure this is the kind of position I am hoping for," said Matt.
"Son, beggars cannot be choosers," said the lawyer, pushing the arrest warrant to the side of his desk unobtrusively.
Matt hemmed and hawed over that one, so i am really grateful this second one seems to be coming through for him.

Holly, who with her incredible attorney friend Bertha was a huge help in linking Matt with the sane and reputable lawyer, and I were discussing how very hard it is for young adults to get started in life. We remembered how idealistic we were in our young twenties. I crossed the country to start grad school in California in a beaten up old car wth a grand total of $200. I had no money for tuition,  which would be due in a month, and no idea how I was going to get it. But I had a head filled with hopes and dreams and fluff.....and somehow, it all worked out.

Face it, if we were born with the list of all we would have to overcome before we returned to dust, most of us would crawl right back in the womb. It is one of God's greatest gifts that He keeps the next day veiled. The one comfort Solomon discovered is that the day is sufficient unto itself. Enjoy the gifts God gives you for this moment. It might be the only one you have this side of eternity. Smile whenever the urge seizes you. Tomorrow could be filled with frowns.

Hebrews 3:13

¹³ But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.