I know you are going through those hard times, those rough times. I know it feels like everyone says they understand when they don't. I know it feels like everything around you is crumbling and you are getting choked by all that dust. I know the walls you built are falling and the towers you climbed are tilting. I know the fire is in your eyes and you cannot see where you are supposed to be going. What are you supposed to be doing? Bricks keep falling on your back; the flames make your eyes water, and the sand covers your face until you cannot recognize yourself. I know what's going on.
But maybe I don't. Maybe I don't catch it every time. Maybe I miss the signs. Maybe I cannot see the sorrow behind your eyes and the cries for help that fall back down your throat. Maybe you are fighting by yourself right now and you feel completely alone. Maybe you feel like you must hide it. Maybe you feel like our lives are too good for you to interfere. Maybe you feel like no one will help you or you must do this on your own-- which you never do. But maybe I don't know what's going on.
And yet all of this-- the bricks and the flame and the sand and cries and the hiding-- this does not mean you have to give up. You cannot give up. You can fight, you can win, and you can overcome. You can buck these demons, you can forget that past, you can overpower this loneliness, you can walk past the sadness. Do not listen to what the world says when they tell you to give up, to give in, to make all the pain and suffering 'end--' listen to me. Listen to what I'm saying right now. Your life is worth fighting for. It is never for the taking.
Don't you ever feel like today is so bad you cannot see tomorrow. Tomorrow could fix everything. Tomorrow could be the day your demons die. Tomorrow could be the day you overcome that past. Tomorrow could be the day you find the answer to your loneliness. Tomorrow could be the day you discover happiness.
Today is dark. Today is grim. Today feels like it will never end. Today feels like it can never be conquered. But tomorrow today will be conquered with the rising sun. That sun will drive away the darkness. That sun will make things bright. That sun means today is over. That Son will set you free.
He will be your hope. He will be your fighter. He will be your winner. He will be your overcomer. He will pick up all your broken pieces and put them back together into something even more beautiful. He will put out the flames and grow a garden where there were once ashes. He will wipe the dust off your face and remind you of who you are. You are His child, His creation, His workmanship. You are loved by Him, cared for by Him, and looked after by Him. You will never have to fight alone because He will always be with you. Those demons-- He can kill them That past-- He can redeem it. That loneliness-- He can fulfill it. That sadness-- He is the happiness you need.
You don’t want a room full of people sharing memories of you when you could be there with them*. You don’t want a pastor to struggle to write your funeral sermon because everyone is still mad at you. You don’t want them to miss out on your life. You don’t want them to try as they might to think of how you lived your life but only remember how you ended it*. You don’t want to leave your family confused and angry and feeling guilty. You don’t want to die. You want to live.
Courage does not always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.'* You don't have to be the lion emerging from his hold. You don't have to have it all together. You don't have to make all the pieces fit. He is the Lion. He has it all together. He'll make all the pieces fit. You just have to try again tomorrow.
That’s all you have to do.
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Many of you may have heard about the loss of our uncle, Josiah, who committed suicide and took his life when he was just 17 years old. All loss is hard, especially when it is an unexpected or premature loss, but there is nothing like the loss of someone who killed themselves. Many members of my family-- including myself-- go back and forth between being angry at my uncle and being sad. Some of us haven't reached the sad point yet. It is difficult to imagine what must be going through a person's head when they decide to take themselves from this life, from their families, and from their future, and yet 1 million suicides are committed a year, along with countless attempts, plans, and serious consideration. We live in a world that considers suicide a viable option, where children are exposed to suicide via their peers and environments, where we consider the self as so important that we do not consider our loved ones, where we do not take the time to look past the present suffering to what lies ahead of us. I think we-- you and me-- as Christians ought to be more proactive in bringing the people of this world who are feeling lonely, abandoned, and hopeless the hope we have in Jesus Christ. We've found the answer-- we must bring it to them before it is too late.
“Think of all the beauty that's still left in and around you and be happy!” — Anne Frank
* Quote from my dad.
*Quote from Anderson Cooper
*Quote from Maru Anne Radmacher
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