Good morning…
“Hoping high tide doesn’t bring the river into our living room,” a friend texted from Jacksonville, Florida as Hurricane Irma slammed her state. “Please pray that the water recedes and we don’t see the predicted 4-6 foot surge. Thank you.” I lifted prayers all day and was grateful for her final message. “Waters came up to the back patio but no flooding – very blessed.” I heard through my phone, “It could have been worse.”
Here in Atlanta, the biggest tree in our back yard was uprooted by Irma. Crashing through our fence, her mammoth midsection blocking a two lane side road before her leaves came to rest on the open property behind us. “It could have been worse,” I said all evening. It could have fallen on our home or the home of our neighbors. It could have knocked out more than just our electrical power. I or a loved one could have been like the middle aged man in a nearby community whose tree fell on his house, killing him instantly. I truly felt in my bones, “It could have been worse.”
When I spend time with people who are grieving the loss of a loved one, I hear gratitude gradually grow. “At least we enjoyed her for forty-two years.” “His suffering is now over and he is healed whole in heaven.” “I would not have wanted her to linger any longer in her broken down body.” “At least his passing was quick and painless.” Can’t you sense in these statements, “It could have been worse?”
“It could have been worse,” is actually a God-given gift, a buoy bestowed on us when we are born. When horrible happens we instinctively search for anything positive to keep us afloat. We see others suffering more than us and we lift them in prayer. Yes, we feel pain, but we also feel the joy of loving and being loved. Intuitively our hearts are drawn to old, favorite stories as we savor pictures and memories that can never be lost. We ask ourselves, “What could have been worse?”
Our soul knows the answer: “Never to have lived and loved.”
So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun (Ecclesiastes 8:15, NIV).
…Sue…
