As I ran through my usual morning routines, something dawned on me. It was a familiar sound. A sound I heard hundreds of times growing up a block from a steel mill. It was a train whistle.
Sounds odd, doesn't it? No, not the train whistle itself, but the fact that this morning, in comparison to others, I would even notice it's distant sound. The strangest part of it for me was the feeling that came over me when I heard it. Comfort.
I must admit that "comfort" is the last word I would use after 20 plus years of hearing train whistles blowing as they approached the steel mill to deliver their loads. How I ever learned to sleep through the loud annoying sound of a train whistle, a block away, is beyond me. The realization of sleeping through it as a child hit me when my family tried to stay at my parent's home during a visit. I was rudely awakened in the early morning hours as a train made it's approach to the plant.
"Comfort"? So where did that come from? From disdain to comfort? Yep. A feeling of comfort came over me, one I cannot explain. It was an internal sigh, of peace. I know it didn't come from pleasant childhood memories since their so few of those. It didn't come from a deep love of all things train, although I think trains are neat. Maybe the sleep? A peace in sleep that existed even in the midst of a loud long train whistle warning of it approach? Maybe? That seems to make the most sense in my mind.
The comfort I felt at that moment and then the thought of sleeping though it for so many years reminds me of one of my favorite Bible verses. Psalms 4:8 says, "In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety." (ESV)
When I think of my truest source of comfort it comes from God and God alone. The hope that He has given me through His son Jesus Christ is so far beyond anything I can express. So how can disdain of anything in our life be turned to comfort? By turning it over to God. A rough childhood, abuse, no self-worth, no hope; they can be given to Him in trust that He gives hope and peace. But it requires that we release bitterness, anger, and resistance. Easy? Not always. Possible? Yes.
