Mountain top Musings: The Give and Take of Life

Well it is now March and that means we will soon be moving our clocks ahead one hour, filing taxes, and yes, the start of baseball season! Of course, that also means fishing season in the streams is getting closer, soon elk will be calving and deer dropping their fawns. Spring is definitely a great time of year, and even more so this year as we have been blessed with a winter that has not been near as long as the past several. However, that could change between now and publication day!

With the hours of sunlight slowly increasing and the nights becoming a little shorter those who suffer with winter depression and gloom are feeling hope seep into their souls. Winter is definitely a hard time for many. This winter has brought us quite a few surprises. Some good and some not so good. We have a friend whose adult son has went off the deep end to coin a phrase. He has left his family, lost his job and seems like his sanity. Our friend is devastated as well as her daughter-in-law and four grandchildren. It seems like he has fallen hard into a heroin or meth using mindset, although she says that is not it. It could be some real mental health problem that has just emerged from the recesses of her son's mind. Pray for this family.

Then there is the public plight of the people who died when the helicopter Kobe Bryant was on that crashed back in January. It is devastating enough to lose a child, a husband, a friend but to have 9 people die is such an unexpected way, and then deal with all the media, and public grieving the Bryant family has had to endure must be over whelming. The other families have at least some privacy in which to process the pain. Pray for those families too.

I am sure you could write of some loss and pain that has come upon your beloved family this winter. If not, then you are truly blessed. Even in the best of times, we all have some tension in our families and circle of friends. I think of the impact the Covid-19 outbreak has had on so many people especially in China and the East. I cannot fathom millions of people quarantined, especially by a corrupt and murderous regime like the People's Republic of China. Even if the fatality rate is 2 percent just think of the heartbreak and pain that number represents. Pray for those affected by the death of a loved one of this illness.

You may be asking by now why Dave is writing about the hope of spring and then the pain and loss of these families. Well it is to wake many of us up to the reality that life has some great times and some tough times. When we have things going well, we owe it to those around us who are hurting to reach out and show them some kindness, empathy and love. Or another way to put that, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Yes, the Golden Rule that Jesus Christ shared with us. When you need some help or encouragement let those who come to give it go away with some satisfaction that you were willing to receive what they had to offer. False humility and pride will tempt you to say something like, "Oh I am doing ok, I don't need your help." You know that it is a lie as soon as the words roll off your tongue!

So, as you navigate the trail of life this week, be alert for those hurting souls that God has allowed into your path and lend them a helping hand. And if you see someone reach out to offer you a bit of help, don't deny them the blessing and take it!

(Dave & Lisa Carroll are area missionaries with InFaith, America's oldest Christian home mission agency. You can contact Dave at 406.459.8935 or [email protected].)