Good morning, Ladies, and thank you so much for your prayers and condolences in this big ol time of loss -- and for sharing your own heavy burdens. PAIGE, we'll be praying for you. And ALISHA, thanks for giving us evidence that it DOES get better.

ALISHA, you also pointed out that old stuff continues to come up and there are hours when you -- and all of us -- have to remind ourselves that God's there. That God'll get us through this. That we are loved.

It's what ALISHA calls "the constant journey," and I think that's the perfect term. Where did we ever get the idea that as soon as we embraced our spirituality, that we "should" (not my favorite word) be constantly at peace no matter what happened? Or that other false belief that bugs the heck out of me: that bad things happen because God wants to teach us something. Really? Don't even take me there.

Here's the thing: Jesus came to bring Good News. When we get down with the bad news we're getting from the world -- past mistakes bubbling to the surface, schools downsizing and dropping your major, loved ones dying, loss all over the place -- we tend to forget that. I'm not saying we should be all Pollyanna and say, in the midst of deep sorrow, "It's okay. It's God's will," when we're NOT okay and we don't KNOW if this is God's will.

What I am saying is that if we don't balance the constant journey with the good news, the journey tends to take us downhill. A wise psychologist friend of mine (if you ever read the Sophie books as a kid, he was the model for Dr. Peter) says when you're going through a hard period, continue to do the things that ordinarily bring you joy, with no expectation that they will right now. He calls that banking the joy. When you look back on that time, you see it not just as "Man, I'm glad that's over," but "It was hard, but there were definitely gifts in it."

For example, while I was recovering from my toe surgery, Marijean and Maeryn came to stay wtih us for four days. When Mae was napping Mj and I watched Ken Burns' "The Roosevelts." I will always look back on that time with her as special, even though I was in pain. When Guinness died, we immediately focused on Geneveve and we're discovering things about her we didn't know because Guinness, um, sort of took over the entire house. Since my sister was diagnosed with dementia, her kids, my grown niece and nephew, have become so much closer and I treasure those relationships.

And the Good News isn't just tucked into the bad times. Great stuff is happening all around us that we may not even notice because we're under so much pressure all the time. Sort of makes God a bad weather friend -- we only go to God when we're hurting or afraid or desperate. When things are going fine ....

Jesus' Good News wasn't just that we're going to have eternal life. He wanted us to have life and have it abundantly HERE -- in THIS kingdom on earth. I'd love to hear your good news. It doesn't minimize the bad news. But it makes that constant journey a richer one.

Any good news you want to share? It's not just the comfort. It's the reality. That's what I'm talkin' about.

Blessings,

Nancy Rue