What’s going on everyone!! This week has honestly sucked for me. I found out that my grandmother passed away. She was one of the main people that raised me, and to find out she was gone wrecked me. Work the next day was terrible. It was like every interaction with my customers was a negative one and I just had to sit in silence after I got off work last night. I remember sitting in my car thinking, “Dang man it’s only Tuesday night and it has already been the worst week”. Have you ever felt like that before? I honestly didn’t even want to take time to write this article because of the grief I’m experiencing. Even though that is the case, I am reminded of the scripture, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).
This scripture means a lot to me because in the first part of it, it talks about being surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. To me, I think that means all of the pillars of the faith and our family members that have passed away too. This encourages me to keep running this race of life and to make my family proud. It inspires me to continually grow to be my best in every area, and that even though there is pain, there is joy on the other side of that pain.
The main point I want to bring is that in our current culture, we always boast about the great and fantastic events in our lives. As a result, we portray a false reality about our lives. When we continually post about our exciting events, it brings about this spirit of comparison. That comparison, in turn, brings about separatism because we are always comparing ourselves and making preconceived judgements about people and their lives. What I want to challenge us to do, is to not be ashamed of the lows in our lives. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people and ask for prayer.
I really believe that when we open up enough to show our scars, it will show others that we are human, and that we don’t live the perfect lives, and that will help others open up and to have that spirit of inclusiveness. Don’t be afraid of the lows!! Pray for each other; encourage each other to expose the lows; lift each other up so they feel supported in the low times.
Much Love,
Ryan W.
