This title could be perceived as a shopping trip and I am comparing prices but it isn’t. What I really wanted to write is ‘How much loss is enough’? I just took this photo of what the final destination is for the leaves from a tree near me.
The leaves begin with hope and beauty then go out in a blaze. Then there is nothing. It will be an icky brown pile that needs to be carted away. Speaking of coming stormy weather, I recently read from Mark Chapter 4, the account of Jesus asleep during a storm. Do we sometimes think that He is sleeping on our hardest day? Jennifer Benson Schuldt, 10/21/25 from Our Daily Bread, wrote about a prayer from her three-year-old niece. “Dear Jesus, I know You’re here with us. I know You love us. And I know that the storm will stop when You tell it to stop”. This optimism and faith from a child startled me. I spent my morning praying for people to get jobs, recover from cancer, stay married, stay in recovery, make the best of a new opportunity, heal, heal, and heal. It was a wonderful morning and a gift to have this time today but I still have a pit in my stomach. How much loss is enough, as a question, suggests that God is measuring out our misery – but He loves us. Who is this God Who is over time and knows my last day? Ex 34:6-7, when Moses is working on the tablets, says, “…The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by…”. One of my favorite songs these days is ‘Firm Foundation’ by Chandler Moore, Cody Carnes, and Austin Davis. It is about faith in God and that is a firm foundation. One of the verses then begins with, “Rain came, wind blew (storm) but my house was built on You. I’m safe with You, I’m gonna make it through. Yeah, I’m gonna make it through ’cause I’m standing strong on You. Yeah, I’m gonna make it through ’cause my house is built on You”. We have a sure foundation in Christ but life is far from storm-proof. Matt 7:25 reads, “And the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock”. So much easier than guessing where to build. There is a spacial component to this idea of God as a foundation. We are not following or looking up, nor are we beside Him but standing. He is under us and holding us up. Because God is all that, can we face loss with mercy, grace, longsuffering, goodness, truth, and forgiving those who may have had a part in this storm? If this sounds hard today I’m with you. Trust Him tomorrow.