November 2018 Articles

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Spiritual Corner: Learning to Lean on Jesus

Spiritual Corner: Learning to Lean on Jesus

Last week I lost a very important person in my life – my sister, Velvet. In next month’s Ag Trader, our family will write our tributes to Velvet, but this month for my spiritual corner I just want to share the three main things that God has shown me since losing Velvet. 1. Life is short. I know that we hear this phrase so often and it seems somewhat cliché, but it is so true. I never would have imagined that I would lose my sister when she was only 43 years old. I thought I had a lifetime with her. I thought she would be there for me whenever we one day lost our parents. I thought she’d be there whenever I finally get pregnant and have her niece or nephew someday. I thought she’d be there to go to the next rodeo or barrel run with me. But y’all, life is short. You never know when God is going to call someone home. We don’t know how much time with have left on this earth or how much time we have left with someone else, therefore, we must strive to not take our time for granted and especially our relationships with others for granted. God longs for “all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1st Timothy 2:4). We must dedicate our lives to serving God and serving others and we must strive to bring as many souls to Heaven with us as we can. 2. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Losing Velvet has really shown me that the small stuff just really doesn’t matter. I know that I am bound to still get bogged down by the small stuff, but I am striving to not let it bother me as much. Why do we allow ourselves to get stressed out over little, minute details in this life? Why do we all seem to have such first-world problems whenever we don’t get exactly what we want? We let the small stuff control our lives sometimes and the thing is—that stuff really doesn’t matter. My sibling and I lost our first-born sister who helped hold us together and kept us in line. My brother-in-law lost his wife of 23 years. My nephew lost his mom, who also happened to be his most trusted confidant. My 14-year-old niece lost her mother—and all of us women understand how tragic that is—for our mothers always become our best friends as we mature. My father lost the child who first made him a father. Losing Velvet is a big thing; a HUGE thing. It’s something that matters—something that hurts. Whether or not my house is clean is small stuff. That person at work who gets on your nerves every day is small stuff. Probably 99% of our daily problems are small stuff. Friends, we have to learn not to sweat the small stuff. Pause, step back, breathe and realize most things really just aren’t worth getting bent out of shape over. Brush off the small stuff and give the big stuff to God. 3. There are more people than I ever realized who are hurting just like I am. This is the biggest revelation that God has shown me. It’s somewhat ironic, because the week before Velvet passed I was pondering on what my biggest struggle in life has been thus far. I honestly couldn’t come up with a good answer. I felt like I hadn’t struggled that much. A week later and I’ve discovered what my biggest struggle in life has been so far. Before Velvet’s passing, I recognized that there were others who were hurting, others who were dealing with terrible, tragic events in their lives. I felt for them and prayed for them, however, I could never truly relate to most of them. I wanted to be there for them, but I also simply could not fathom the pain they were in or the loss they had experienced. Fast forward to now and I get it. Every day feels hazy. The best way I can explain it is that used to I felt like I was walking through a field of bright flowers with the sun shining high in the sky. Now, I’m still walking through the field of bright flowers, but it’s like a fog has settled over the sky to where the sun is still visible, but its brightness is dimmed. The aching of my heart is steady throughout the day. Occasionally it’s able to get masked for a brief instance, but then the dull ache comes back, usually stronger than before. It’s like one of my other sisters said, it feels like I’m living in a bad dream that I’m going to wake up from any day now. All these feelings have overcome me as I grieve the loss of my sister, but whenever I look around, I am so astonished to find that there are SO many other people who I know personally going through similar situations. I’ve begun to remember people who have lost their mothers in the last year or two, who have lost their child. I recall those who have lost their husband or their niece or sister. I relate to these people now and I truly FEEL their hurt and it breaks my heart to know that situations like this are becoming a fairly normal occurrence in this life. But then I think about how all these people who are hurting are also overcoming this pain. How are they overcoming this pain, you may ask? The only way they possibly could if you ask me, is with God’s help. So remember these three things as you’re going throughout the rest of your day or week. Life is short. Don’t take people for granted or the time you have for granted. Live for God every second of every day. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Don’t allow yourself to get so upset or flustered over trivial things. Be there for people who are dealing with the big stuff and give all of your big stuff over to God. Lastly, no matter what pain you’re in, there’s others who understand it and who are going through that same pain. Give your pain to God and allow your painful experience to be a light for others. Reach out and help others as they deal with their hurt and use your experience to fuel your relationship with God and your relationship with others. Connect with those who are hurting and connect with God through prayer and scriptures every day. Let’s make the most of this life and live it wholeheartedly, unashamedly for our LORD and Savior so that one day we can sit at Jesus’ feet, surrounded by the souls we knew in our earthly life, and we might all hear the words, “Well done, my good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21).
--Dana Alexander