What's in a day?

Today I am struck with the dichotomous nature of life. As I ponder the meaning of this day in my own life, I'm taken back 28 years. I was excited beyond belief. I couldn't wait until this afternoon. I was going to meet my fiance at the airport. We were getting married on Saturday. What a day! Breathless excitement ... infectious anticipation ... and yes, a sprinkling of anxiety. I was starting a brand new adventure!

Fast forward 15 years. Same day. Different experiences. I found myself sitting by the bedside of the same person. He had been unconscious for 2 days. Each breath became more labored. The apnea increased. I waited longer each time for him to draw the next breath. Then, at 10am, he did it. He broke free from the fetters of a sick and dying body, to be given a life that each of us who accept Christ's gift can only dream of ... he met his Savior face-to-face. While the rejoicing began anew in the heavenlies, my grief intensified in the temporal.

As I reflect on the adventure that we experience in this life, thankfully, there is one constant. There is a very personal God Who walks beside us each and every step of the way. He was there in 1982 to rejoice with me and usher me down the aisle of my new adventure, and He was there in 1997, beside me in my bedroom, holding me up as my heart was audibly breaking.

That's the beauty of a life following Christ. I believe we ALL experience life circumstances that run the gamut. We have moments of inexpressible joy as well as seasons of heartbreak and paralyzing grief, no matter who we are or what we profess. The difference? The Savior. We never experience any of life alone if we allow Him to walk with us. His word reminds us that He is our El Shaddai ... THE All-Sufficient One. There isn't a need we have that He can't fill. There isn't an emotion we experience that He isn't there to share. There isn't a circumstance we encounter that He doesn't have what we need to either enjoy it to its fullest, or endure its deepest valley.

Are you pondering your life as you read this? What has He shown you in your most dichotomous times? How has He revealed Himself to you in each of the seasons of your life? Oh, how He desires to walk this life with you. How deeply He loves you. How closely He wants to keep you. Perhaps this day is the day you renew your adventure with the Savior!