Becoming Virtuous

Loss. It’s something that we have all had to face this year—for many, in painfully acute ways that we have not had to face before.

Back in April, I felt like this tree was a picture of what life had become. On the brink of blooming in a white cascade of sweet smelling blossoms, but a cold wind blew in a freeze, and the buds opened to reveal flowers that were already dead.

I felt the loss of these blooms quite keenly. Spring only comes once a year, and I’m not guaranteed to see another one. Even if I live to be 70, that means I only get to witness this God given beauty forty more times. So I treasure each spring richly. And to lose one of those finite chances to enjoy God’s gift in this tree? I was devastated.

But I’m sure that’s how many others have felt, and about more significant losses than a tree that didn’t bloom. Some have lost family or friends, jobs, their community, church, activities they loved, and much more. These losses have all been significant and costly.

But if you go to the second picture, you will witness a mercy of God. Not all of the blooms died. And that solitary floret illustrated some truths for me.

First, I’m not in control of what happens, but God is. And He is infinitely good, and infinitely sovereign, and infinitely all-knowing. The question is, when I face the trials of loss, will I trust that God is in all of these things and run to Him? Or will I run from Him and become bitter because I think He messed up and I could do a better job running the show?

And second, will I focus on the pain of my trial, or will I focus on how God shows His mercy in the trial? By His mercy, I still have so much. I’m alive, I have my family, I have friends, I have a community that seeks to build one another up in Christ. But more than that, I have salvation through Christ. So even if all of the other things were stripped away, I can rejoice because I have been bought by the blood of the Lamb.

This current crisis is not the only time we will experience loss, in this fallen world I can guarantee that we’ll each face similar trials again. But how will we face them? I pray we do so focusing on the infinite worth of Christ.