Good morning, DearHeart.
It’s been a hard winter. It is still taking its toll. And, while some folks step up for the challenges of adversity, others respond differently … and some just get downright ugly.
Yep, the winter has been hard. But, you know … it’s been hard on everybody. For many, a vibe of irritability is alive and active – but, there are still those who are not. I wonder …

• Could it be that the virus has given people permission to be irritable on a public/ social stage?
• Could it be that they have been grumpy all along but kept it under wraps?
• Could it be this was the new “them”?
  I’ve been thinking about this … attitude … for months now. And yes, I do realize I have probably been cooped up way too long.
  A familiar passage of Scripture came to me yesterday, along with a children’s song I learned in Sunday School.
  It’s the story of the two builders – one builds his house on the sand and one on the rock. A storm hits and we know the outcome. The one on the rock stands firm. The one on the sand “fell flat”. Check it out …
  “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”
  ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭7:24-27‬ ‭NLT‬‬
  Here’s the thing I missed all these years. Or maybe it was because the rock and sand foundations were always emphasized. But, as I read it now … I realize the same storm hit them both.
  Same storm.
  Different outcome.
  Scripture describes the storm exactly the same way for each of these builders. It wasn’t that one experienced a drizzle and one a hurricane.
  It was exactly. the. same. storm.
  No matter what we experience in life, we will not be the first to have experienced it and we will not be the last. There is nothing new under the sun. I fully get that the details of our situations can vary yet there are more similarities than differences.
  Wondering … why can some go through difficulty and remain pleasant while others become as unreasonable as all get out?
  And there, before me lie the answer. It was in red – the very words of Jesus Himself –
  “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice……” (verse 24)
  It is in the practicing of His Word, intentionally living out each day according to the way He has set out, that we are able to stand the storms of life with joy. It is not solely in the hearing. You and I must apply His Word, actively living it out, day in and day out.
  In good times,
  and in bad.
  In joy,
  and in sorrow.
  In abundance,
  and in want.
  In sure times,
  and in the uncertain.
  Storms will come.
  Take that one to the bank.
  But, how you and I handle it and come through is entirely up to us.
  Wake up.
  Choose your house.
  Go.