Riven

I usually feel pretty put together. You probably do, too. Good at being organized, scheduled, planned, under control. Life follows along accordingly most of the time. But when something comes along unexpectedly in life, it is like an earthquake that strikes the delicate house of cards. The world seems to be falling apart and we are thrown off. Plans now become altered, voluted and stirred. The path on which we were walking has been erased, so an alternate route must be taken. One hopes that it will be 100 times better.

We are all broken. This world is broken, but usually the pieces are neatly tucked into our pockets and we forget that they are there. And when things are shaken up, it rattles you, throws you down, and empties your pockets.

Urquhart Castle ruins on Loch Ness, Scotland

Now each piece must be picked up and examined. You look at each piece and ask yourself: how important is this piece and what am I going to do with it?

Perhaps that is why we have turmoil. So we are forced to look at the riven things in our lives and make decisions as to what is priority. We figure that out pretty quickly, thankfully. And as a good friend told me recently, "In my life, when things happen like this, the next page is always better."

I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. - Isaiah 38.5