Life’s Lemons
photo by Linda Hoffman Kimball

This time of year, folks are looking for a variety of favorites. Beach reads? Must see movies? Favorite vacation spots? Summer recipes? I’m curious about all these categories, too, so let me know.

However, when I started musing on the broad topic of “favorites”, I found myself drawn to a very niche category: “My favorite biblical scriptures on comfort.” I’m surprised that this is where I’ve landed since I’m feeling upbeat right now – everyone in my family is in good health; my son and his wife just welcomed my 4th grandbaby; we’ve got an exotic trip planned later this month; I’m surrounded by good friends and nature’s spectacular beauty. It’s like there’s a sound track of Beethoven’s and Schiller’s “Ode to Joy” playing in the back of my mind much of the time.

But I’m not naïve. And I’m not always this full of hallelujah. I know Life is never just one thing. Never just “good” or “bad.” Even now during this current emotionally sunny stretch, I don’t have to scratch the surface very deeply to feel the burdens of those I love – a sister-in-law starting chemotherapy; a friend with a vicious terminal illness; friends facing the challenges of infertility; dear ones facing job or faith or family crises. I don’t really want to start enumerating more or my upbeat mood may start to fade.

Perhaps one of the reasons I can trust that there IS goodness around me is because I have lived the principle of “opposition in all things” intimately. I have found aid in the scriptures. There are some I have wrestled with that have stood up to all the grief, pain, loss and hopelessness I could throw at them.

Here are three of my favorites.

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

That about covers it, doesn’t it? No matter what this mortal existence can heave up in horror on us, God still loves us. Really? Really? It’s a staggering thought. You can read more about my connection to this scripture here.

Sometimes other translations besides the King James Version enhance a scripture’s meaning for me.

For example, this verse, Psalm 131:2 didn’t grab (or help) me at first:

“Surely I have behaved and quieted myself as a child that is weaned from his mother; my soul is even as a weaned child.” Psalm 131:2

The Revised Standard Version captures the sense of comfort I need much better:

“But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a child quieted at its mother’s breast; like a child that is quieted is my soul.” Psalm 131:2

The Good News Translation of the verse melds the uninteresting image (to me) of a weaned child with the image of a nursing baby now full and content:

“Instead, I am content and at peace.
As a child lies quietly in its mother’s arms,
so my heart is quiet within me.” Psalm 131:2

I love the concept of receiving literal and spiritual succor from so Maternal a God. And, having nursed my own babies, I know that the feeling of love and connection is reciprocal.

The third one resonates beautifully in the King James Version:

“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” Isaiah 53:3a

Sometimes when I am low, I wonder how Jesus – who had a Divine perspective on all things and therefore must surely be happy all the time – could tolerate my sorry, sad state. Surely He would just tell me to buck up, shake it off, or “fear not!” But this verse is a huge consolation. He gets it! He understands sorrow, rejection and grief. He is very well acquainted with those conditions, having experienced them Himself. And, (keeping in mind Romans 8:38-39), nothing can separate me from Christ’s love.

So spread out your beach towel, read a Good Book, and discover you own favorites. What are they?

(And yes, I am serious about wanting your book and movie recommendations, recipes and travel destinations…as well as some of your most cherished scriptures.)