thankful

Have you ever thought about the Bible story of Jonah? (Yeah, you may think the Bible is a collection of fairy tales; I happen to believe it's all true. Bear with me a minute.) Story goes that Jonah runs away from a job God told him to do, finds himself far out to sea in a storm, and jumps overboard to stop the storm so that the ship and crew would not be lost.

When Jonah jumps overboard, God sends a huge fish to swallow him, and spit him up on dry land three days later. Many people present the time in the fish's gut as punishment, which is probably what it felt like at the time. But I think of it as salvation; do you really think Jonah could have swam back to shore? If not for the fish, he surely would have drowned.

I was reminded of this story as I mused over an event that happened yesterday. Many years ago, we were discouraged and frustrated over a missed opportunity. The alternative didn't seem nearly as good. But in retrospect, I see that we were in the "fish's gut" for a year, and when he "spit us up" we were in a much better place than we would have been if we'd gotten what we wanted in the first place.

I know that doesn't make a lot of sense without all the details. I'm just feeling grateful today that God doesn't give us everything we want.