THE BLESSING OF BURDENS

“The Lord has comforted His people and will have compassion on His suffering ones.” (Isaiah 49:13 NRSV)

Comfort and prosperity have never enriched the world as much as adversity. Out of pain and problems have come the sweetest songs, the most poignant poems, the most gripping stories, and inspiring lives.

Yet it is hard to think about this when troubles overwhelm us or uncertainty and fear grip our hearts. Our problems are real, and it is difficult in the heat of the moment to hear of anything else.

Our oldest daughter married a Swiss, and they often spend their summers in Switzerland. Sometimes we have visited them there and have gone soaring above the countryside on chair lifts high in the Alps. Looking down we can see almost a carpet of wild flowers, some of the most beautiful in the world. Only a few months before, those plants were buried under heavy snow. Yet that snow prepared the way for their growth -- providing them with water, and even insulating them from the winter winds. Our burdens can be like that snow, preparing the way for something beautiful once the winter is past.

-- Billy Graham


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