My first reaction was, "Dang, can someone turn down the sun for just a second?" I was at the kitchen table earlier this evening, finishing up a rather unpleasant project, and for a moment I was lost in a wave of frustration.
Why do bad things happen to good people? Why is it easier to stir up anger than it is to make peace?
It's been a picture-perfect weekend, full of many laughs and good times. But life's challenges do not take a holiday, do they? So I needed to get something done, something I did not want to have to do. With dinner over and Kim upstairs doing laundry, I was determined to do it.
Then, in the words of George Harrison, "Here Comes The Sun," practically knocking me over. For a second, I thought I might need sunscreen. At the kitchen table? What the heck? Given my focus on the task at hand, the intrusion was nothing short of annoying.
And then...
And then I realized I was being given a gift. So I took this photo to commemorate the occasion.
I was reminded that there are no coincidences in life. I do not know everything there is to know, and I am not the center of the universe.
Look up. Trust. Keep the faith. Love God and love other people. And rest assured that in the end, when the story is over, everything will be okay.
It's like the scene Mitch Albom writes about in his excellent book, "The Five People You Meet In Heaven."
"All endings are just new beginnings," he writes.
"We just don't know it at the time."
I'm feeling much better as I go to bed tonight. I just got a postcard from heaven.