I was standing at my kitchen sink this morning, sipping my morning tea and listening to an online sermon, as I gazed at the ever-growing brightness of the sky over the Cascade Mountains.
It is very common for there to be a low layer of marine-clouds resting just above the edge of the mountains in the early mornings – creating a small narrow band of clear sky between the mountains and the cloud-layer as the sun is starting to come up over the mountains.
In that small narrow band of sky, if you are paying attention, you can see the sky turn vibrant golden/crimson as the sun comes up. It is a very brief opportunity. Then it is gone.
If you aren’t paying attention, you will totally miss it. Because once the sun crests the mountains and begins its ascent, the cloud-layer swallows up the sun … and the entire rest of the day is grey and dreary.
Back 10 years ago, when my kids were in high school (and two moves ago) I would go to a Moms in Prayer group each Thursday morning at my kids’ high school. As we moms would go around the table praying, I would invariably thank God for the beautiful sunrise that morning! I could always feel the other ladies in the room thinking I must be crazy – because it was a grey dreary day. But … that morning there had been a small sliver of clear sky to the east … just between the crest of the mountains and the low-lying clouds. And in that small sliver of clear sky there had been the most amazing sunrise! For the briefest of moments! Then it was gone!
As I stood at my kitchen sink this morning observing this very thing, the thought occurred to me that the whole reason I’m able to stand in my warm home, at my kitchen sink, enjoying this view is because the leaves are off the trees. I only have a tiny view of the Cascade Mountains from my kitchen window. And during the summer when the leaves are on the trees, I have no view of the mountains at all.
But during the winter, I have the amazing privilege of watching the sky turn vibrant colors over the mountains, from my kitchen window … because the leaves are off the trees! Because of the loss.
It is because of the loss that I have a clear view.
It is because of the loss that I can see beauty which I couldn’t see before.
It is because of the loss that I have a new perspective.
We all go through situations in life where we experience loss.
Loss is painful!
Loss is hard!
There is loss in my life which I grieve almost every day.
And yet … it is because of that very loss I have the perspective in life which I have today. If I had never experienced that loss, I would not be the person I am today. That loss has made me who I am today.
It is because of that loss I can see things in life which I never saw before.
And it is from that place of loss I have found my greatest ministry.
God has used that loss in my life to help me “see through the bare branches of the trees” to the distant horizon beyond. God has used that loss in my life to enable me to see greater things (like the great Cascade Mountains) … and not only that, but God’s glory coming up and shining in amazing brilliance! … just like the glorious sunrises! All this would have been completely blocked from my “view” in life if I had never experienced the loss.
We all experience loss.
You have your own loss which you are grieving.
What has God opened your eyes up to seeing as a result of that loss?
In what ways has God used that loss to develop you into the person you are today?
Loss is hard! Loss is painful! Loss has tears!
And yet … as we look through the loss … there is beauty, which we never could see before.
