God drops things in our laps at just the right time. He puts barriers in our paths that look like roadblocks but are really gifts in disguise, beckoning us to take a closer look at what’s going on inside of us. We can either step over them or choose to pick them up and examine them for the potential they may hold. Failure is ripe with goodness. The longing to run away or escape our lives for any greener grass is the opportunity to seek God in the midst of it, to learn something deeper about both us and Him. Exhaustion and sadness often hold the door open for a more restful and joyful life. 

If we will let it, the door opens to remind us of the person we wanted to be but have left behind in the chaos and disappointments of life. When the sadness refuses to be silenced and the feelings arise that this is not the life we had signed up for, we can either go to shame or to God. Is it a sin to want to be happy? Is it wrong to want to know an inner restfulness that is not subject to the whims and torrents of a life that refuses to slow down? I don’t think so. God does not think so either. We are made for bliss. We are made for inner peace. If it were not so, why would all humanity throughout history seek it with such a driven and often frenetic passion?

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