“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”- Matthew 5:4
“The end of me often comes when my dreams come to an end.”- Kyle Idleman
Kyle Idleman begins Chapter 2 (“Mourn to Be Happy”) of The End of Me by remarking that toward the top of his list of least favorite things is waking up in the middle of a fantastic dream. “But,” Kyle observes, “it seems a law of life that if you’re in the middle of an awesome dream, something will wake you up.”
Pastor Idleman states we’ve all had times when life was on cruise control. Then adversity blindsided us and the ride got rough. Kyle explains:
“You were living the dream, and then life was shaking you awake. So intrusive. To come awake is to lose something- money, health, work, innocence, some special someone. If you’re going to live, you’re going to lose. You will come to the end of yourself. You might as well wake up to the fact.”
You’ve gone from dreaming to mourning. But what if, Pastor Idleman asks, you could reverse that equation so that you would wake up from a nightmare to a dream, and mourning could lead to blessing. Kyle encourages us:
“In the midst of loss and deep disappointment, when it feels like we are coming to the end of ourselves, he [Jesus] turns the page and shows us a new story of hope and redemption.”
Today’s question: What is your response to Kyle’s statement that we must wake up to the fact that we will come to the end of ourselves? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Heartache and shattered dreams”
