Good morning…
Cleaning out his office before moving into his new role as Chaplain Emeritus at The Lovett School, Steve came across this photo from our cross-country camping trip to the Wisconsin Dells in 2010. He shared the picture in our family group text, and we all got a good laugh. (Of course our youngest son was too small at the time, so I quickly volunteered to stay on the ground with him, forgoing my chance at the scary Hades rollercoaster.)
“My moods are like a rollercoaster,” notices singer Tierra Whack. “It’s hard for me to just feel one way all the time.” In this fun photo I see fear. Happy. Doubt. Brave. Worry. Anticipation. Exhilaration. Tons of different emotions, all at the same time. Without warning your life can turn upside down, and who knows how or when it might happen? (Psalm 24:22, MSG).
“We cannot selectively numb emotions,” adds author Brene Brown. “When we numb the painful emotions, we also numb the positive emotions.” The painful and the positive are intertwined in life. If we feel at all, we feel it all. There is no true joy apart from the pulse of sorrow in the veins of life.
As we live through the high highs, the low lows, and each inch in between, we do well to process all we feel with God, the painful and the positive. Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully (1 Peter 5:7, AMPC).
As I watched our excited, giddy kids come off this very frightening rollercoaster, I sensed it was a metaphor for the unpredictable life ahead.
…Sue…
