There is a difference.
This past Sunday night, we were at a friend's house and the sunset was simply breathtaking. The pics below do not do it justice, mainly because of my crappy i-phone that I've dropped one too many times, but also because it is really hard to capture a good photo of such amazing colors!
Personally, I had never seen a sunset so beautiful. The magenta hot pinks and stunning lilac purple colors with streaks of maize shooting through them that were set against this stunning blanket of a sapphire blue background was just ..... in a word.... breathtaking. Take away all those fancy words and descriptive colors and speak in my language.....
It was FREAKING FANTASTIC!
It was one of those sunsets that makes you stop what you are doing and just pause to take it all in. The kind of sunset where people stop and point and you hear "ooohhhsss & ahhhhhs" like you would hear during a magical fireworks display at Disney.
During our drive home, the sun eventually slipped below the horizon and the sky grew dark but I couldn't stop thinking about it! It made such an impact on me that I woke up the next morning still thinking about it! That morning during my devotional and prayer time, I was wondering and praying about the fact that we don't have sunsets like that all the time and I wondered, if they are so beautiful and sunsets like that exist, then why doesn't God give us sunsets like that all the time? Living here in southern Michigan, there are only a few times a year during the summer months when I see truly amazing sunsets like that and I thought "wouldn't it be awesome to see one of those every night?" and as I was praying about it, I felt like God taught me this:
If we had beautiful stunning sunsets like that all the time, it would just become the norm and we would eventually take them for granted. They wouldn't take our breath away or make us pause where we are. They'd blend in. They'd be expected. They wouldn't be this amazing beautiful event that takes place every so often that catches us by surprise and that we thank God for.
So then I thought about the good times we go through in life and how, if things were good all the time (our relationships, our bank accounts, our jobs, our health) the good times in life wouldn't mean as much either. Go with me here. I know what you are thinking. Is she crazy?!
There is good in the bad.
Think about it for a second. If things were great all the time, would we have an appreciation for the good times? If life were good all the time, it would become the norm. Life would blend in. It would become expected. There wouldn't be a need for hope or for looking forward to things. There has to be bad times in order to make the good times exist.
It's the same with sunsets. There are sunsets ...... and then there are SUNSETS! We know about the really great sunsets because we know they exist. It's the same thing with the good in life. We know the good in life exists because we know the bad times in life exist, too. It's like light and dark. Cold and hot. Cheesecake and no cheesecake. Ok. I may have gone too far on that last one. ;)
There is good in the bad.
During bad times, whether it be difficult times at work, or maybe your marriage is failing, or maybe you've recently had a scary diagnosis - it's the good times and the knowledge of them, the experience of them, and the hope of them that gets us through those bad times.
I'm an optimist. My glass is always half full. I tend to see the good in situations and I try to see the good in the bad. Not because I am naturally that way, but because of what God has shown me with my past experiences. I have not had a difficult life. I grew up in a loving home with two parents that are still married today. I always had enough food to eat. We took family vacations every year. I didn't struggle in school and I had success in my career. But I have always remembered.....
There is good in the bad.
Just because I have had good experiences in life doesn't mean I have escaped the bad. I have loved and lost. I have lost a best friend to cancer. I have had tough ministry experiences. I have been through tough losses with friendships and have been through difficult relationships. I have been disappointed, struggled with self esteem, and have searched for self worth. I have had bad bads. I've lost a baby due to miscarriage. I've recently feared a cancer diagnosis. But, something God has taught me through each of these circumstances.....
There is good in the bad.
If we are going through something difficult; something that is really hard, emotionally draining, tough on us physically, or weighing us down - if we don't see the good in the bad, than our suffering is for nothing. If we don't have hope that God will use our tough times for something good or if we don't remember that good times in life DO EXIST, then how will we get through the difficult times?
There is good in the bad.
God doesn't punish us. He doesn't put us through difficult times for sport. God doesn't change either! He is a loving Father that loves us more than anything!
God does allow us to go through things in life that are hard to shape us, mold us, and to teach us things. He allows us to go through things so we can find the good in the bad.
If you don't find the good in the bad, then you are missing out on learning what He is trying to teach you.
If you don't find the good in the waiting then you are missing out on what God has for you.
If you don't find the good in your broken marriage, your awful diagnosis, your awesomely sucky job, then you are not finding the good in the bad.
There is always good in the bad and God proved that to us the day His Son Jesus Christ died for you (and me!) on the cross!
My prayer for you today is whatever you are going through, because we all have something - my prayer for you is to find the good in the bad. Find the light in the darkness. Reach for hope in your trial and remember how beautiful the sunsets are!
xo,
Brenda
