We are always on a precipice, it seems.  That place between encouragement and disillusionment, fight or flight, ying and yang.  The fine line between happy and sad.  It feels at times like we are treading water, not sure if we are going to sink or swim.  Maybe that’s just me.

I say this because I am having one of those days.  Trust me, I’m fine.  It’s just that I am so keenly aware of the veil that draws between seeing things as going well or waiting for the other shoe to drop.  It’s a delicate balance that, in a moment, like one tiny pebble dropped onto the scale, can upset the whole apple cart.  I hate it when I feel so vulnerable.

I am, by nature, an optimist.  Still, I would be lying if I said that everyday feels like sunshine and roses.  They don’t.  There are a few clouds that cast their shadows, worries, concerns — the need to make ends meet, the new ache or pain that comes with fighting the plus-side of middle age.  All are a part of life, of course.  It’s natural when a bit more blue sometimes overtakes your otherwise colorful outlook.

You’ve been through things, too.  I know you have. 

What I am trying to share, is just a tiny insight into what I am learning on this journey we call life.  I don’t believe anything I say here will challenge you or even change demonstrably what you may be feeling in your own quest to put that one foot after the next today.  Perhaps, at best, this will serve only as a reminder that God always has a plan.

I recently reread a quote by Stephen Covey that I love, but had forgotten.  “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”  How easily we get this simple statement all tied up in knots.  We are so dang busy, distracted, occupied by technology, and “necessities” that we fail to see what is right in front of us as being what is most important. 

What we think about, fight for, cherish, need… Often we’ve got it all wrong.  We’ve made it all so complicated, so muddied, so commercialized.  We want bells and whistles and fairy tales… We compare and despair.  We imagine things that we think will make the difference, make us happy, or change our circumstances for the better, but they are always beyond our reach… All the while, God whispers for us to be still.

The main thing, of course, is love.  It’s loving those God has placed on our path, those who He’s given to us, those who look to us, depend on us, need us.  It’s loving even when there is no promise or guarantee that love will be returned.  It’s loving for love’s sake.  It’s choosing to do right, because that’s what love does.  It’s honoring God by loving Him, following Him, having faith in Him, even when we cannot see the outcome of where He is taking us. 

None of this makes the struggle instantly easier.  None of this promises that tomorrow your bills will be paid, people won’t leave you, friends and family won’t disappoint you.  Sometimes your heart will still break and the miracle you are praying for gets answered in a way you would not have hoped.  We don’t know why things happen the way they do.  They just do. 

Love anyway.  It’s what keeps us on this side of the precipice. 

The fine line between where we are and where we are going, is trusting that God is in control.  There are rainy days and disappointments and times we are so unsure of what comes next that we stop peddling and just coast.  We occupy our minds with Netflix and gadgets so that we don’t have to feel that we are running on empty or hurt or just plain bored.  We have to push through.  We have to. 

When we take our eyes off the main thing, we falter.  We stop believing that God loves us and has good things for us.  We cross the line in believing that we will overcome.

All I know for sure, is that we will.  Somehow, someway we come to a place where we cross the Jordan and it all makes sense.  We can’t know all the reasons for the twists and turns along the way.  But God does.  And I believe with everything in me that His plan is perfect.

Everyday may not be good, but there is good in everyday.

I don’t know your every circumstance, your every heartbreak, your every concern.  All I do know, is that just like mine, God does.  He wants us to follow Him, to trust Him, to put our faith and hope and expectation that He knows what He is doing in our midst despite how difficult it may seem right now.

In the fine line between faith and despair, choose faith.  Keep walking.  Keep loving.  Keep your eyes on Him. 

It’s okay to have moments, even days.  Sometimes there are whole seasons when we must will ourselves to not look down but to keep our heads up.  

He knows all.  

Keep the main thing the main thing. 

Better days ahead.