The human condition...

"For this is the message you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us -- and we ought to lay down our lives for one another."
~ 1 John 3:11,16
I spent time with a woman who has been caring for her husband. As she shared about her husband's illness, she said, "A year ago we were traveling and celebrating our wedding anniversary with our kids. I wish I could explain why some things happen in our lives, but I can't."

"However what I am learning is this. Everything that is, is given by the God of love. All is grace. Light and water, shelter and food, work and free time, children, parents and grandparents, birth and death - it is all given to us. The important thing is how we deal with it."

She continued, "I am thankful to be in a support group with caregivers. I sit in this group and realize that every person in the room knows something about what it feels like to be going through and experiencing what I am experiencing."

When she shared this, it made me realize that this is OUR story as humanity. While we experience unique journeys, our human condition is something we all know about. We are the same image of a God that has created us. It turned out to be the reminder that each day we are asked to recognize those around us as brothers and sisters, and that they also are encountering the human condition.

While our lives may be lived out in as many different ways as there are people, I am reminded that each of us are a witness of God's presence to and for one another and the chance to make that presence known.

It is that witness that allows for us to say thanks: to God, thanks to each other, thanks to all and everyone.

Stay in God's grip!

G. Todd Williams (c) 2018