I wish life were a bowl of cherries — just plain fun all the time, with no worries or hurts.
It’s not, though, is it? Ever see something and wonder why it had to be?
I remember attending the funeral of a client who was too young to die, and left behind a loving family. Though she died peacefully, and her family was comforted knowing she was in heaven, the lawyer in me had serious questions about the fairness of this life.
How could someone so vibrant get so sick?
Along that same line: Why do teenagers die in car crashes? Or bad people ever succeed?
Heavy stuff, for sure. Not the kind of thing a lot of people want to talk about.
As generally happens, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence, something happened that put everything in perspective.
I received a phone call from the mother of another client. Had I heard from her son? Though he had more money than he would ever need, his phone was disconnected, and the electric turned off. No one had seen him for several weeks.
Despite all of his material possessions, “Roger” had no friends. Nor was he close to his family. He found answers to all of his problems in the bottom of a bottle. I convinced Sgt. Dan Bentley of Springboro P.D. that we needed to break down the door. I’ll never forget what I saw next.
Roger was face down in the dining room floor, dead. There were at least a half-dozen empty whiskey bottles around him. And three times as many empty beer bottles. He’d been dead for two weeks.
That’s when I felt something inside me change, like I was having my questions answered. In the span of 12 hours I’d seen two dead bodies. One believed there was a much greater life after this one, which explained the peace surrounding her. The other was unaware of any belief beyond the ways of this world, which explained his loneliness.
I asked myself a different question then. If I couldn’t explain all the mysteries of this life, especially when bad things happen to good people, what did I have to lose by believing?
More importantly, what did I have to lose by NOT believing?
Sometimes, when life gets really complicated, it actually gets very simple. This earth and the people on it did not evolve from nothing. And there are core elements of that statement I’ll never know or understand. That’s why it’s called ‘Faith’ instead of ‘Know.’
Since then, when a client is particularly frustrated and all solutions seem impossible, I will delicately look for an avenue to share my experiences. Perhaps there is another way to look at everything, I say. Maybe there is a solution after all.
I also accept several invitations to speak in churches, as I will do this Sunday, July 26, at Horizon Pointe Church, which meets at the Five-Points Elementary School here in Springboro (10 a.m., casual atmosphere, contemporary messages, come on out).
I like to share the real-life stories of the real-life problems I encounter every day. I also like to ask the real-life questions to the real-life dilemmas we all face. Then, with a confidence I never had on my own, I like to give a real-life answer.
Life may not be a bowl of cherries. But it offers lots and lots of fruit. If not now, then in the next life. All we have to do is believe.