This morning I heard a high school senior speak of the loss of his dad to brain cancer. Later I spoke with a middle aged man about the loss of his once lucrative job. Last week I spoke with a man who lost his family because of an addiction. I received an email from a woman who has lost her health to an incurable disease. Another friend has lost job, income, home and security because of an accident.
If you’ve been following the story of Ponzi scammer Bernard Madoff then you may have had your jaw drop as I did when I learned that one of the investors that Madoff ripped off was Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel who is reported to have lost $22 million of his personal funds and $15 million of his charity’s fund. Once poor, Wiesel had become rich. Now he is no longer rich.
As I often do when I hear of loss I question, “How would I handle it if I had that loss?” When reading of Wiesel’s loss I immediately thought, “I’d be okay as long as I had Jesus in my life.”
Once again without particularly intending to I revealed to myself the true Treasure of my life; relationship with Jesus Christ.
Do the same reflection. What if you lost your spouse, child, health, or wealth? It would hurt. It would break your heart. It would perhaps take your breath away and demand tremendous life change. But, with God’s help we can not only survive but meaningfully move through any of life’s losses. I use the word “meaningful” because one of the promises of knowing and following Christ is that He will never waste a loss or sorrow that we experience. Somehow and some way Christ can take our losses and pain and use it for good, to make a difference for someone else.
That’s something to ponder in a day when loss is all around us.
If you’ve been following the story of Ponzi scammer Bernard Madoff then you may have had your jaw drop as I did when I learned that one of the investors that Madoff ripped off was Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel who is reported to have lost $22 million of his personal funds and $15 million of his charity’s fund. Once poor, Wiesel had become rich. Now he is no longer rich.
As I often do when I hear of loss I question, “How would I handle it if I had that loss?” When reading of Wiesel’s loss I immediately thought, “I’d be okay as long as I had Jesus in my life.”
Once again without particularly intending to I revealed to myself the true Treasure of my life; relationship with Jesus Christ.
Do the same reflection. What if you lost your spouse, child, health, or wealth? It would hurt. It would break your heart. It would perhaps take your breath away and demand tremendous life change. But, with God’s help we can not only survive but meaningfully move through any of life’s losses. I use the word “meaningful” because one of the promises of knowing and following Christ is that He will never waste a loss or sorrow that we experience. Somehow and some way Christ can take our losses and pain and use it for good, to make a difference for someone else.
That’s something to ponder in a day when loss is all around us.
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