Hanging Upside Down!

~ Sandi Staton

John 16:33
“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world!”

Stress! Who isn’t feeling it these days? As a kid dealing with parents, two brothers, and school, I’d run bawling to my bedroom, slam the door shut, play my accordion, and sing until my tears dried up, and my heart felt happy again.

Today, dealing with a husband, two dogs, and everything in between, I still run bawling to my bedroom, and slam the door shut, but my accordion is too heavy to pick up, and I rarely ever sing anymore. And when I do, the dogs run and hide!

One day, at the brink of insanity, I glared out my bedroom window and noticed that our birdhouse on the old maple tree was hanging upside down. Just like I’m feeling, I grumbled to myself. Upside down! Inside out! My world is falling apart and everything in it is screaming, “Fix me!” and I don’t want to deal with it anymore!

I took a picture of the broken, upside-down birdhouse to use in my digital art, and as a reminder that ugly things can become beautiful when we see them from a different perspective. The ugly mess on the outside may not change, but the ugly mess on the inside; our rotten attitudes, anger, and resentment will change when we ask God for help. When we read His Word and listen as He speaks, and do what He says. He never promised He’d make things easy for us. He promised that He would always be there. That He will never put on us more than we can bear. That His yoke is easy, and His burden is light.

Things in my world are still broken, but today they don’t seem as broken as they were yesterday or the day before. I’m even thinking of leaving the birdhouse hanging upside down. It’s not so bad. I kinda like it that way. Maybe the birds will like it that way, too. Maybe they’ll want all the birdhouses turned upside down. Okay, stop! One broken, upside-down birdhouse is enough!

Published by Sandi Staton

So, I'm sitting here trying to figure out how to describe myself to you, and these are the words jumping up and down in my heart: I'm just a simple human being living in a complicated, messed-up world. I speak my mind. I love hard. My feelings run deep. When push comes to shove, I stand my ground. Sometimes I push back. Sometimes I walk away. I've surfed the crashing waves of life that threatened to destroy me only to make me stronger. I bear the scars of emotional rape, sadness, and depression. I've walked the golden streets of churches and religion only to be disappointed time and time again. And as a result, it's taken me seventy-five years to get where I'm sitting today; a sinner saved by grace through the blood of Jesus Christ. I fell at the cross. I repented of my sins, and Jesus saved and washed me clean. I still fall flat on my face. I still get dirty as a pig in a mudhole. And Jesus still picks me up, dries my tears, forgives me again and again, and continues walking close beside me. No one has ever loved me like that. And no one ever will.

5 thoughts on “Hanging Upside Down!”

  1. Sandi, I can so identify with you right now…upside down and inside out … With my husband in hospital still with Alzheimer’s, visiting every day.. with the odd day taken off for weather or feeling just too tired; moving to a different province for support from my son….but alas all friends and family back in Ontario… I know God has a plan for each of us… and am reminded of the ‘footprints in the sand’ and I just keep going like the energizer bunny…and hope I can just keep going and going and my battery doesn’t give out lol
    While I don’t know your situation right now, I send you thoughts and prayers …. Diane xx

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    1. Thank you, Diane! I think of you often and am so sorry you are going through this. Our strength comes from God, that’s for sure! Isn’t it ironic that the young are considered strong, and the old are considered weak? I’ve endured more stress now than I’ve had to endure when I was a single mom doing practically everything on my own. Maybe I just didn’t pay as much attention to it because I was young. Life is truly turned upside down! Blessings, Diane ~ Sandi

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      1. Just another thought on our ‘age’ factor… It’s interesting that the saying goes … wisdom comes with age… but it seems most often nobody wants to take advice we offer in ‘wisdom’ lol …. take care Sandi… .. Diane

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