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Editorial: Every Silver Lining

by Kevin Sims

Every Silver Lining

MY lovely wife, Nichola, has a terrible habit (just the one, honest!) – she expects the worst in any situation. I’ve told her that her motto should be ‘Every silver lining has a cloud’! We joke about it but it does worry me that she may not enjoy things because the ‘What if ...’ thought is always there.

Let me give you an example. When Nichola was pregnant with our younger son, Zachary, we had some test results that showed there might be something wrong. Fortunately, after a very anxious wait, further testing showed our fears were unfounded and a year on from his birth he’s turned out to be just about the most beautiful, happy, ‘normal’ baby possible.

To me, the second tests were the end of it, but for Nichola it’s not that simple. Even now she’s still looking to see if something was missed. She just can’t help it!

Now don’t get me wrong, she’s not some misery who never cracks a smile – far from it, she’s the sort of person who spreads happiness and laughter wherever she goes. I guess it’s just in her nature to assume that, where things can go wrong, they will. It’s like an insurance policy so she’s always prepared should ‘the worst’ happen. Plus, when things do work out well, it comes as an extra-pleasant surprise!

Sadly, for many people ‘the worst’ really has happened in the past year or so. The Indian Ocean tsunami, the Pakistan earthquake, the hurricanes in the USA – these and other disasters brought about what seemed like a never-ending stream of destruction and human misery.

And yet ... and yet in some of these and other terrible situations people have found silver linings to the darkest, dirtiest clouds imaginable. And in many instances, the threads of silver have been highlighted by The Salvation Army.

In this issue of All the World you can read about the tricycle provided for a girl in Sri Lanka with cerebral palsy, villagers in Pakistan who have a roof over their heads and homeless men from Norway who have new purpose thanks to, of all things, a soccer tournament.

For these people and others The Salvation Army has a simple message: because God loves everyone, we’ll love (and help) you. The Army’s mission statement puts it a little more formally: ‘Its ministry is motivated by love for God. Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and meet human needs in his name without discrimination.’

Nichola will almost certainly keep worrying that things will go wrong but deep down we both know God has promised he will always care for his children – even in the worst of circumstances.

I see evidence of that love every day, through the stories that reach my desk and in every smile I get from my perfect little boy.

Kevin Sims is the editor of All the World

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