| Jocelin's Corner: Thoughts from Marcus |
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| Monday, 23 July 2007 18:20 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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It's been about a month since we found out about Jocelin's cancer, and while I've been meaning to share my thoughts about it since day one, frankly, I've been LAZY. Now that I'm off my lazy bum, here is lesson learned #1:
God's love for us is different than our love for one other. It is a perfect love, a perfecting love. Our love is not. For example, the way we love our parents or our kids is imperfect. While we want the "best" for them, we don't really know what "best" is. We might think we know, but in reality, we don't. Who's to say that going to Harvard is really better than going to community college? Are taking piano, violin, and swimming lessons really the "best" thing for our kids? Does "best" really mean having a good job, making a big salary, and 2.5 kids? The world might have an opinion on these matters, but the world is not our authority. And since we don't really know what "best" is, we think love is supposed to be about increasing happiness and comfort and decreasing pain and suffering. So that's how we love those close to us. We do what we can to increase their happiness and decrease their pain. On the other hand, there are so many examples in everyday life that show how as mortal humans, we suck and can't grow in positive ways unless we suffer. For example, if we want to do well in school and learn stuff, we have to suffer by studying and taking tests. If we want to get huge and build lots of muscles, we have to suffer through the pain of working out and eating lots cottage cheese. If we want to learn how to snowboard, we need to be prepared for 3 days of suffering, soreness, and cursing (um, I mean, frustration). All of these things are painful and not fun. But they produce the desired result. In the same way, that's how God's love works. His desired result is for us to be made perfect in the image of His son, Jesus. And both the mountaintops and valleys of life contribute to this purpose (Romans 8:28 - "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose").
Because both Jocelin and I not only believe this truth, but put our trust in it, that is why we are totally at peace with everything that is going on with Jocelin's health. We are totally ok with it. If this is the path that God has paved for us, we will walk down it gladly. We have complete confidence that God will use this to bring Himself more glory, sanctifying us along the way.
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Hey everyone, this is Marcus here. I know this is supposed to be Jocelin's Corner, but I'm going to intrude into it anyway. At this very moment, Jocelin is out of commission. She is in surgery, and I'm hanging out in the waiting room. And since so many friends and family are following her blog space closely, I thought I'd fill in for her...