It was raining last night as I left home to meet a close friend for dinner.  Not just a sprinkling kind of rain, but windshield wipers can’t keep up kind of rain.  As my hands were clenched on the steering wheel trying to carefully navigate the road, I realized my entire body was tensed up.  Then, I reminded my self to breathe and relax or a migraine was in my near future.

Once I settled down, I became aware of one of my favorite upbeat songs playing on the radio.  When that happens, I feel it is absolutely necessary to turn the volume up and sing at the top of my lungs.   At that point, a feeling of complete contentment came over be…

Life at that moment felt perfectly in sync because the windshield wipers WERE WIPING TO THE BEAT OF THE MUSIC!  

OK…I have a few O.C.D. tendencies, but I never realized the joy I would feel when my wipers were keeping the beat to the music.  Obviously, I’m dramatizing (a little bit, ha!), but wouldn’t it be nice if life felt perfectly in sync and always went as planned?  If everything and everyone would just go with the flow and march to our favorite beat?

One only has to be awake for a few minutes to realize the rhythm of life doesn’t always match the beat of our plans.  Most of us adapt and get good at rolling with the punches, although it’s not fun when our beat gets all out of whack.  This is when we get overwhelmed, stressed, fearful, angry, impatient, etc…

I find it encouraging to know it is no surprise to God when our days, weeks, months or years don’t go according to our plans.

Psalm 34:18 says, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” In Matthew 5, it also says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit…Blessed are those who mourn…Blessed are the meek…Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…Blessed are the merciful…Blessed are the pure in heart…Blessed are the peacemakers…Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness…Rejoice and be glad for great is your reward in heaven…”

I realize not everyone agrees with me, but this is what I find encouraging and what helps me deal with pain and hurt.

If you read this, I truly hope you have a weekend full of upbeat music and nothing knocks you out of rhythm.  But, if it doesn’t work out that way, I hope this post offers you some encouragement to keep on keeping’ on…

“Comfort and prosperity have never enriched the world as much as adversity has.” ~ Billy Graham