You Can't Be Sad

I've never been much on accepting dares ... well, except for that time I let those guys hold my feet while I hung upside down over the interstate and spray painted the overpass. OK, and that time I climbed the church steeple and draped a ... ummmm ... Confederate flag over it. And maybe the time the only liquid I put into my body for seven days was beer ... maybe. So last week when someone in my office double-dog dared me to wear suspenders to work every day this week, my reply was, "Hmmmmm ... I'm not much on dares." I wore khaki suspenders to work on Monday. And I wore navy blue suspenders to work on Tuesday. And I wore dark gray suspenders to work today. And tomorrow I will wear black suspenders. And Friday ... well ... Friday is a special day, so I think I'll let that day's color be a surprise. But I'm not much on dares ... nope, nope, I'm not.

The truth is the person who issued the double-dog suspenders dare to me last week had no way of knowing that this week would be a hard one for me ... a week when finding my smile has been an effort ... a week when I've had to dig deep every morning to fight the urge to pull the covers over my head and hide away in my house ... a week when that all too familiar sadness has threatened to overtake me once again. When the person said, "I double-dog dare you, Terrie," he had no idea ... no idea how much I would need to wear suspenders every day this week ... he had absolutely no idea.

I suppose it should no longer surprise me that God chooses to use so many different people in so many different ways to try and get my attention. Though it shouldn't surprise me, it does ... no, "it" doesn't surprise me ... He surprises me. It seems the more I struggle with where I fit with God, the more He uses people I don't expect to remind me that He hasn't gone anywhere ... that He is still there ... that He still cares. Those of you who read along with me (especially those of you who know me personally) know that my faith has taken quite a beating over the last couple of years. And so much more important ... God knows ... He knows ... He knows and He still cares enough to send some unlikely people to say, "I want to help you to find your faith again," "I talk to Him more because of you," "I'm going to church because I can't help you believe again unless I believe myself." He cares enough to use a double-dog suspenders dare to speak to me ... He does indeed.

I've said countless times since I first debuted my black suspenders at my office holiday party that a person can't be sad if he or she is wearing suspenders. I've even gone so far as to say it's impossible ... it's impossible to be sad and wear suspenders. My daddy used to always say, "You can get glad in the same britches you got sad in." Well, Daddy, you were right ... but only if those britches are held up by suspenders. You just can't be sad and wear suspenders ... you just can't be.