What we did with that day was entirely up to us. We could enjoy the splendour of the colours and start off our day with a lift in our step and a goal in our heart. Or we could choose to miss the beauty of the sunrise and begrudged that we had to get up and go to work. God did not promise us a rose garden. But we were guaranteed a sunset with all its beauty at the end of the day. A sunset that would bring us rest and hopefully peace within ourselves. At the end of the day, we could take into stock how productive we were, did we respect, did we listen, did we care, did we love. Or did we carry our resentment from the morning of having to get up and meet the day? God did not promise us a rose garden, but God did give us life. God instilled in us a love that would carry us through the darkest night and bring us to the morning with hope and encouragement in our hearts. There are times when we fail to call on God, times when our prayers are not made because we are afraid they won’t be answered. God does not make promises, and God does not always answer our prayers the way we want them, but God does answer. It may be down the road when we least expect it, one of those “aha moments.” And if our minds and hearts are open, we will recognize the moment. God did not promise us a rose garden, but God did give us choices to make. We can walk by the beggar on the street, or we can buy them a meal, we can ignore the single mom struggling to make ends meet, or we can offer to babysit while she can deal with the situation. We can ignore the look of loneliness in a shut-in senior’s eyes, or we can sit with them and just listen. The choices are ours to make, and I believe God would expect us to do them to the best of our ability. Jesus did not say, “ you will never have a rough passage, you will never be over-strained, you will never feel uncomfortable, “ but he did say,” You will never be overcome. God did not promise us a rose garden. God’s Blessings.
-Submitted by Mary Anne Grand from Raymore United Church
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Disclaimer: opinions expressed are those of the writer.
