Hope Among the Rubble

my daughter 2 years ago

Changes are hard, even when necessary, wouldn't you agree?

In a part of our small town is a faded yellow building whose aged elements, quiet history, and creepy wonder connect with me as something beautiful. I'm a sucker for old things! Because of this beauty, it was a favorite place for me to take portraits.

A couple weeks ago, I noticed they tore the old building down. At first, my heart sank. I was attached to the old building--it's what I knew, was used to, found beautiful. After processing, I realized it really was a good thing as the building was no longer useful.

While slowing to grab a few pictures with my phone, I saw a parallel to my current life circumstances. Hard changes always seem to arrive unexpected + uninvited. When what we know is disrupted or removed, our world tends to feel upside down. We feel afraid because we can't see passed the rubble surrounding us; we feel angry because we liked what we knew. When we finally move passed those initial emotions, and with God's love and grace, we have the option of seeing the brokenness as a gift.

A gift like a cleansing fire heaping our life's useless, wrong and comfortable places. With the heaping and cleansing comes an openness to more of God in our lives. What we wouldn't have been capable of seeing before, we now begin to glimpse.

The hope among the rubble is the gift of His love unwilling to leave us the same, yet faithful to see us through.

Change is inevitable, but the response is a choice.