The Marine Corps attempts to support mission readiness with "family readiness". I use this blog to help align my perspective to be ready to support my man and the mission given to me by my God.
And for the hard days I have a new motto based on a verse in I Samuel and a funny line in “You’ve Got Mail”. Tom Hanks says the movie The Godfather has the answer to all of life’s questions. "What do you pack for vacation? 'Leave the gun; take the cannoli.'” The Bible addresses the question "What do you do when your king is destroyed?" with “Leave the brokenness; take the blessing." More literally,
And for the hard days I have a new motto based on a verse in I Samuel and a funny line in “You’ve Got Mail”. Tom Hanks says the movie The Godfather has the answer to all of life’s questions. "What do you pack for vacation? 'Leave the gun; take the cannoli.'” The Bible addresses the question "What do you do when your king is destroyed?" with “Leave the brokenness; take the blessing." More literally,
The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way... I Samuel 16:1
Samuel had his hopes dashed. I am so thankful that God did not say "Suck it up and drive on." He, like Paul, said to keep straining toward what is ahead. (Philippians 3:13) We all have hard days in which the brokenness of our world nearly blinds us to God’s blessings for our future.
We place our hopes in so many things- a clean, orderly house; a child who will be praised; a husband who will adore us; a Sunday afternoon nap perhaps…or maybe something bigger that we think we need. These hopes cannot stand. When our hope is dashed, we go into mourning (which often looks like whining or anger, not even close to blessing).
So, when someone asks me, “What do you do on the hard days?” I say, find your hope. Remember that life here is broken, but you can have unbreakable blessing. In fact, He Himself was broken so that we could taste, hold and share the blessing.
“the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.”
Psalm 133:3b
"I give them eternal life, ...and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand."
John 10:28-29
As a friend used to say on her hard days, "Abba, Father, I am yours."
Fill my horn with oil and get me about Your ways.
