So much is going on around us – in the bigger world outside and in the smaller intimate circle of family and friends. So many issues, burdens, concerns which weigh down on the ordinary person and packs his day tight into overdrive. There’s only so much that a person can take because he isn’t ever a bottomless pit of energy, courage, strength, and resources. He tires, gets weary and exhausted, gets overwhelmed, sometimes feeling beaten and defeated by it all. He feels so drained out and squeezed dry to the end point when finally gives up falls off the edge into the deep chasm of despair.
Life can do that to a person, yes indeed. I don't remember anybody ever saying that life would be easy. If there was, whoever said that must be someone top of the heap with the world at his feet. Geeezz, is he ever real?! On the contrary, life and living is so jam-packed with bumps, humps, rough edges, a mind-boggling maze, cliff hangers, treacherous paths, uncertain routes, and unwelcome detours that indisputably freak a person out to want to say--- ‘Somebody stop the world and let me out!!’
A friend told me this story (his story)-- one late night (not so long ago) in his room at a point in his life when everything went wrong and that everything he tried didn’t work. He had lost everything and was on the verge of despair. He had come to a dead-end. There was no one he could turn to cause nobody seemed to understand what he was going through or didn’t seem to care. Hope was hard to hold on to; it seemed to slip through his fingers. He couldn’t even find the strength to pray. And that night the four walls of his room seemed to close in on him or maybe, he thought, it was the world pouring down heavily on his shoulders meaning to crush him to the floor. So much overwhelmed he began to cry and fell to the floor on his knees flailing his arms in the air miserable and defeated. (So you think men don’t cry?) At that point he unintentionally hit the side table and knocked down the table lamp, clock, and book to the floor. A tiny slip of paper was thrown out from the pages of the book and inadvertently landed near him. Through his tears he saw this written on it……
When there’s trouble all around me
And my soul cries out for rest
When I feel that I’m falling
Even though I’ve done my best
When decisions get so heavy
And there are answers that I need
I know it’s time to just be still
And let God love me.
When this old world
Starts to push and shove me
I need to be still
And let God love me.
When he read this, he said that he felt his throat constrict, his eyes flood with tears --but amazingly his heart seemed strangely light– the heaviness all gone. He felt like he was being hugged by someone – it felt so peaceful warm loving. Now every time he tells that story to friends, he calls it his DIVINE HUG from heaven. He’s okay now– having reworked his plans out, scrapped unnecessary details, confidently struck up new deals, and bravely moved on with renewed hope and faith. But inside his wallet is a tiny slip of paper (he showed it to me) which he says he’ll never part with till the day he dies. And to this day he still hasn’t found out who placed that piece of paper between the pages of his book. He doesn’t remember doing it either. Now every time he sees friends burdened down by problems, he simply says to them--- ‘Be still and let God love you.’
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This post is in honor of and inspired by Frenchita, Vani, DecentMonkey, Mini, Rpramod, SmilingMe, Sumit, Vrij, and Zombie. In each their own special ways, they have been instruments of God’s Divine Hug for people who needed it at some difficult point in their lives. We have been privy to their kind and gentle hearts in the recent Angel Love game. God bless you all! Thank you for lending your light and love to Angel Love. And to you who reads this post, may God pour down His bountiful blessings upon you and your loved ones. J
posted on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 11:56 AM
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