January 2011
Dear Friends,
My first winter in Chicago was cold. On one particular day, I was traveling to a doctor’s appoint-ment via public transit. I found myself waiting over thirty minutes for the bus in 6 degree weather (which did not include the wind chill). As I stood at the bus stop frustrated I became colder and colder until finally, I started to cry and the tears froze to my face. I learned pretty quick to stop crying at the bus stop.
Though my tears at the bus stop revealed much about the privileged life that I, and many of us lead, it also helped me discover another important lesson. While crying at the bus stop, I lost track of something very important: I was in control of more in my situation than I originally perceived. First, I could walk. Yes, it was too far to walk home, but it wasn’t too far to walk to the next bus stop and get my body temperature up. Second, I could take a cab and get home. Third, I could toughen up. The point is this: often when we feel the most hopeless or frustrated, we lose track of the choices available to us.
In the 29th chapter of Jeremiah, the prophet brings the message of God to a people in exile, “For surely I know the plans I have laid for you… plans for good and not for harm, to give you a future with hope” (verse 11).
All of us during our lives face issues and challenges far greater than waiting at a bus stop on a cold day, but the lesson can still apply: try not to let the despair or disappointment of a moment make you lose sight of the “plans for good” and the “future with hope” that God has laid out for each of us. God wants nothing more than goodness and light for our lives and when we struggle, we have the unique opportunity to seek out those “plans for good”, we have the opportunity to rediscover where God would have us go and for what purposes. God does not create the struggles in our lives, but God is the one who can lead us through them and give us the hope we so crave.
The winter months are long and cold, but they are also filled with opportunities for growth, change, and revitalization. I pray that during this season of Epiphany, you will rediscover God’s plans for good, you will deepen your relationship with God, and you will experience a baptism of new energy for the work ahead.
Blessings this January and always,
Pastor Danielle