Life gets messy, but remains a gift

We have come through some seriously unpleasant things this year, making the holy celebration of Christmas and Allie's 21st birthday yesterday all the sweeter. It’s been that sort of up-and-down year. The health issues that Ellen and I have faced have not exactly been overcome, and to some extent will never be. So be it. The fact is, this is our life. The cancer, the back and leg pain, the subsequent physical limitations are not mere interruptions of our “real” life. They cannot be brushed off or looked past. That so-called real life is a phantom of the imagination. It gives God no credit if we lay claim to an everyday life that precludes suffering. The unpleasant things we experience are as much a part of who we are and what is meant to be as the incarnation of Christ and the birth of our own children. Life gets messy. Friends die unexpectedly. We grow older. But life remains a living sacrament. Each day remains a gift. “And whatever we do, in word and deed, we do in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col. 3:17). Happy New Year.