The other shoe

Some people are carefree even when they should be sober; I'm not addressing any of these folks.

But there are other people, Christian people, who are wired such that they continually see life as a lose-lose situation. That is, when times are bad, that's bad because, well, times are bad. But when times are good, that's bad too, because they know that a bad time is probably just around the corner, waiting in ambush.

I met a woman who was experiencing the best time of her life. She was young and married, loved by and in love with her husband, and with several adorable and healthy children. And she was not able to enjoy any of this fully for "waiting for the other shoe to drop."

I saw myself in her Stoic stance, so I went to the Word for counsel on how to handle the problem of a good day. I saw that James tells us that "every good and perfect gift is from above, coming from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change" (James 1:17).

I then asked a professor how we know that something is a "good gift" and not just a trap or a set-up for a fall. He said that everything you can possibly see as a good gift is something you should thank God for. That helped.

Romans 12:12 sealed the deal. It says, "Rejoice in hope." That's a command, not an option. It leaves no room for the "safety" and self-protectiveness of "jumping before you're pushed." It is the faith and confidence that God, your Father, and Jesus, your blood-Savior, is not presently up in heaven scheming one dirty trick after another to play on you.

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