Difficult Days

Life is full of seasons. When we look at this long winter we are reminded that bad weather is a part of it. In our own lives we also experience difficult days. They leave us asking questions. When will this be over? Why is this happening? What will I do? Sometimes it seems that there can be no good purpose for troublesome times.

But I am reminded of a piece of great wisdom I gleaned from a dear friend. A few months ago when Bob Markus and I visited Tom and Jean Parrish, Jean showed me a letter that she had received from her brother, Andy Brown. Within this letter I found a treasure I could keep.

Everyone in Lawrence County, TN, knows or has been touched in some way by Andy Brown. He has been involved in the baptisms, weddings, and funerals of every family in Lawrenceburg in some way over the last 60 years. I have appreciated Andy since the day I met him. He has done so much good for the church. Though in his 80's, he still drives down from Nashville on many occasions to conduct funerals and visit dear friends. He has been a great help to me in conducting funerals where he has been so much more a part of the lives of the deceased than I have been.

Within the contents of this letter he wrote to his sister, Jean, was a section I copied. I have kept in on my desk and have read it many times since. This is what it said:

This has been a difficult day; However, it is still a "Day that the Lord hath made." And if I can't "Rejoice and be glad in it," I'll try not to complain about it. When Longfellow wrote, "Into each life some rain must fall," he added, "Some days must be dark and dreary." Maybe bad days will make us more thankful for the good days.

I have learned that bad days are necessary, even though not enjoyable. God Himself has experienced bad days. Days of the corruption of the earth (Gen. 6:5). Days of His own people rejecting Him (1 Samuel 8:7). Days of separation from His own dear Son (Matt. 27:46). But on the other side of these days there is hope. Our difficult days remind us that we are not destined for them. Our difficult days remind us that there is a time coming when we shall rest in that fair and happy land.

May God help us not only to thank Him for the good days, but to praise Him for the wisdom of difficult days.

"The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord." ~ Job 1:21