Divine Fingerprints

What do you do when bad things happen? More specifically, when bad things happen, where do you find your happy place?

Admittedly, bad things come in all shapes and sizes. They almost always surprise us, and they are never pleasant. That’s why we call them ‘bad things’. When the bad things are not too bad, we can simply force ourselves to think about good things that make us happy. We can lift our spirits by thinking of some of our favorite things. Just like the song from The Sound of Music about My Favorite Things:

When the dog bites, when the bee stings
When I’m feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don’t feel so bad

Dog bites and bee stings may require a simple bandage, and our favorite things can often cheer us up. But sometimes the bad things create in us very deep wounds. Sometimes the bad things have no equivalent good things that we can turn to for emotional relief. So what do we do?

The picture I included with this post was from my back yard this past week. It contains one of my favorite things: deer walking peacefully in their natural surroundings. But it also contains two things I have recently considered bad. Ever since we lost our son Elijah to hypothermia in those woods behind our home, I have hated cold weather and the very woods that we used to enjoy together.

For two weeks we did not know where Elijah was. For two weeks, his body lay in those woods, exposed to the weather and the animals. When I feel cold temperatures, I am easily brought to tears thinking of Elijah exposed to the freezing cold. And I cannot bring myself to visit the place in the woods where he perished. How will I ever find a happy place when confronted with such a bad place?

As it turns out, there is a happy place big enough to handle the awfulness of those bad things.

My wife Melanie helped me to understand that the place where Elijah rested was a place of God’s protection. I know that sounds odd. But when we were informed by police of Elijah’s death, we were also told that he was perfectly preserved. No animals had touched him. His body had not decayed. Melanie had a vision that God’s angels stood guard over that place. It was a place where God met Elijah to carry him to his eternal home in heaven. Rather than a horrible place, it is actually a holy place.

As Moses was confronted with God’s presence in the wilderness, he experienced what it was like to be in a holy place. “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” (Exodus 3:5). I suppose it’s ironic that Elijah’s feet were also bare.

How can we turn a bad thing into a happy thing? Recognize God’s presence in the midst of the bad things. In His presence is protection. In Him we can see triumph in our tragedy. We can know rest when otherwise we feel overwhelmed with pain and sorrow.

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.” (Psalm 90:1)

So rather than trying to find our Happy Place, perhaps we should consider looking instead for the Holy Place. It’s big enough and wonderful enough to handle even the worst of the bad things.

Please ‘like’ and ‘share’ this post as you find it helpful and inspiring. Thank you.

-Ken Buchanan