Bumps in the Road

When retirement came and moving to the farm became a reality, one of the things which changed was the road.  In the urban areas where I mostly lived, all the roads were streets or avenues and they were always paved.   Getting to the farm means leaving the paved highway for a road which is really little more than a two lane dirt road.  Actually, it is an easement road meaning that the farm is landlocked and the folks who owned the land between us and the highway have to provide access.  At times that two lane dirt road gets a little bumpy and I am tempted to put up a sign which would read, "Life has a lot of bumps in the road!"    

Perhaps, the sign really is not necessary.  Anyone who has lived a spell knows there are always bumps ahead.  Sometimes it is more than a bump which jars, but a bump which literally tosses you in the ditch.  The trouble is we get lulled into thinking that the road ahead is not only like a freshly paved highway, but it is supposed to be.  While no one should be surprised by the bumps, rough places, and even potholes, we end up hitting them and start fussing, or whining, or crying, "Unfair!"   

Of course, life is not about being fair.  Neither is it about making us feel good.  Life brings with it fair skies and cloudy days.  It brings laughter and tears.  Life does not provide guarantees of smooth rides.  To read the Word of God is to be reminded again and again of this reality.  In the Sermon on the Mount we hear Jesus saying, "...He (the Father in Heaven) makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteousness and on the unrighteous."  (Matthew 5:45)   There is no need to worry about those bumps in the road just as there is no reason to be surprised that they are out there ahead of us.