Upended… “to turn or set something on its end or upside down.” Driving through the outskirts of Canton, Texas for an Uncle’s 80th Surprise Birthday Party, (Did I mention he threw the party for himself because he was surprised he made it to 80?!) we saw roots, trees, metal, and parts of houses strewn about as a testament to the tornado that ripped through the area the weekend before. My husband and I were amazed and dumbfounded at what we saw. Next to a house with a collapsed roof and an overturned car, sat a house completely unaffected. This house and the surrounding yard appeared completely unscathed- not a branch in the green grass – and a car waiting patiently to run errands for the family inside.
I couldn’t help but think of the seasons of our lives after looking at these two homes. Some seasons we almost sail through and wonder if all the Joy can possibly be contained within the parentheses of our days. Our lives are like the house that while a tornado rages around its foundation, we stand unmoved by the calamity and chaos all around us. Yes, we have sympathy for those who are going through those rocky seasons. We stare at their overturned cars, the metal sheets of their lives, the collapsed roofs of their hopes and dreams. We need to look away because deep within our bones, we know that our season of standing erect without any signs of wear can come to an abrupt halt at any moment.
Other seasons of our lives leave us ‘upended.’ Transitions, tragedies, health crises, questions and doubts in our faith journey tear at the roots of our lives and leave us turned on our end or even upside down. From that vantage point, our sympathy for others dies and empathy is birthed. Empathy looks at that neighbor’s life and remembers her own topsy-turvy season and the force of the wind as it blew through her life. Empathy comes alongside and never looks away- it looks straight into the eyes of the hurting one and remembers the raw pain and confusion. Empathy reaches out and helps turn the pieces of the broken one’s life over, setting them erect and helping them plant once again.
As we exited the small town next to Canton, Texas we ran into Empathy. A crew of people gathered at one house, working together- picking through the pieces of the lives that had been upended there. This is what Christ calls each of us to. We are not meant to waste a minute of our ‘upended’ season. He calls us to take the remembrance of that storm, wrap it in newborn Empathy, and share His constant, unfailing Love. He gives each of us- whether we are standing erect for the moment or ‘upended’ on our side, a firm place to stand.
Psalm 40: 1 -3
“I waited patiently for the LORD; He turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire.
He set my feet on a rock, and gave me a firm place to stand.”