Life on Cottage Hill

People have been in existence for thousands of years. And for thousands of years they have been living on this same Earth- having babies, raising babies, falling in and out of love, working hard to not only survive but to thrive. And while much of what people have faced over those thousands of years has evolved and changed with the times, there are a lot of core things that have stayed the same. So, isn't it funny that there have been billions before us who have faced much of what we face and yet we still struggle every time we face it? 

I think that's because there are some things that are so much deeper or on such a higher level that man's wisdom cannot overcome it. Give man a problem like how to more safely cross the ocean and he'll build you better boats and eventually an airplane. Give him a problem like staying warm in the winter and cool in the summer and he'll build you heaters and air conditioners. But, give man the problems of hate, anger, loneliness and disease and he'll look back at you feeling helpless, leaving you with only one place to look- up. 

I don't believe that God wants bad things to happen. I don't believe that he wants us to hurt like we all to often do. But we don't live the world that he had envisioned, we live in a fallen world where there is a lot of really bad stuff and I believe in my heart that every time something horrible happens he hurts more than we do- much like when our children are hurt it is harder on us most times than it is on them. 

I'm not sure where this is all coming from except I guess I do. There's just been so much ugliness lately on the news, in the world and it seems to get closer and closer to home, most recently with a good friend learning that her precious 3 year old has cancer. It's all heart-breaking, all of it and every time a piece of news like that arrives I find myself- as I'm sure everyone does- wondering what to do to help, how to make it better and also how to feel better about this world that I have brought my children into. 

For me personally I also search for answers, grasp on to ways to help only to end up feeling more helpless than before and I've done this countless times in my life only to always arrive back at the same answer. That prayer is the only way. Sure there are other things I do- offer words of encouragement, reach out with kind gestures and those are all great things, all needed things. But, nothing can surmount the power of prayer, the power of the only one who can give us hope when things look hopeless, who can provide a way, a cure, an answer when nobody on this earth can. 

Prayer. Lets take comfort in that.