The Beauty of Reflection

Have you ever had so many different thoughts or circumstances to process that you just wanted to store them in a little pretty box, waiting for a rainy day when you might crack the lid open and ponder the thoughts over a cup of peach tea? That's how I often feel. Very often. I encounter sweet children at school who are misunderstood, pushed to the corner, and just need someone to hold their hand as we walk down the hallway. I read big truths from God's Word that take days to sink through the hard layers of my learning heart. A conversation with a stranger becomes intentional, and I want to think about the things I've learned. A friendship is lost over hurt feelings, and I shove my feelings into a corner so as not to feel the hurt again. Another week of singleness flies fleetingly by as I daily make plans for a wedding and a marriage. I want to reflect, but so many other things pull for my attention. So I place them in my little pretty box, waiting for a rainy day to encounter them once more. To think about what exactly to do with each of them.



But maybe life is best learned when you carry those thoughts with you in a locket around your neck, just waiting to be brought to the light in a moment's notice. I've always loved lockets; they hold such a value of timeless sentiment and special love. When you wear a locket, whatever's inside lies close to your heart- literally- and only you know that it's there. You can take it out in a moment of need or a moment of boredom, and what's inside is either a call to reflect, react, or retry. Rather than pushing the events of life to the side, storing them in a pretty box and forgetting the impact it had on the person you were 2 minutes after it happened, the locket would serve as a sweet reminder to make the most out of every single opportunity.



With every pain comes a lesson. With every joy comes a feeling of blessing. With every love comes a conviction, and with every conviction comes a change. But none of these things would happen if we didn't reflect and ponder how the Lord placed every situation into our lives for a specific reason, and He delights to teach us new things with the dawn of each new day. He is not a God of clutter or forgetfulness; He is a God who remembers and finds beautiful things in the dust of any situation.

"Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you." -Psalm 116:7

No matter how painful or joyful or fleeting or enduring your life has been, the Lord has something good to teach you- and He will speak when we are still, holding fastly to our lockets as we learn daily from the truths that He's hidden inside.