Curve Ball

What joy I find in staring at this framed piece in my home. Gazing on it makes me happy. A nod to the light hearted, happy, carefree, the free-spirited side of life.

That big bouncing ball is life. Life is a ball. That orange orb of fun. Right in front of dog for the taking.

On the water floating, suspended by gravity, weightless, no tension. Held up by water, a life giver and life sustainer.

But what of those days when the ball is deflated and flat or slowly losing its ability to stay afloat.

When the pitch and toss on the waves bring unsteadiness. The ebb and flow bring trouble.

The unusually high tides cover us up, dry land is hard to find, terra firma for steadying the feet is in short supply. The dead low life tides leave too much exposed, abandoning life which needs a covering of water to stay alive.

Or a curve ball is thrown bringing surprise, uncertainty, unsettled emotion and the pain of “what just happened here”

What braces the heart in the dark shadows, the stormy places riddled with hurt.

C.H. Spurgeon says this in “Streams in the Desert” — “How can we have rain without the clouds? Our troubles have always brought us blessings, and they always will. They are the dark chariots of bright grace…. Our God may drench us with grief, but He will refresh us with mercy. Our Lord’s love-letters often come to us in black-edged envelopes.”

So today I take my ball and jump in the river of living water. John 7:38 — “Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way, just as the Scripture says.”

And I more than just stay afloat. I find Life from the Giver of Life.

Isaiah 12:3 -” Joyfully you’ll pull up buckets of water from the wells of salvation.”

Life is a ball, curves and all.

Isaiah 43:2 — “When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you. when you’re in rough waters, you will not go down. When you’re between a rock and a hard place, it won’t be a dead end.”

Drawing deep from the well of His Love.