Life is a beautiful thing. Generally speaking, it doesn’t take much to physically witness the splendor of life on earth. At times, all it takes is to open a door and look outside. The wonders of creation as represented by nature are, in and of themselves, quite a thing to behold. However, as awesome as life can be, it is also full of contradiction and pain. Not long after you have spent fifteen minutes admiring that ladybug, a snotty-nosed little boy comes along and squashes it under his feet for no reason. He sticks his tongue out, laughs like a deranged demon, and runs off to commit some other act of evil elsewhere. Or how about this? Barely two months after you’ve uprooted yourself from the city where you grew up and have moved to another town for that young lady, she calls you up and says, “We need to talk.” She then goes on to try and convince you about how it’s her, not you. We all know how the story goes.
As much as life can be full of amazement and wonder, we all have moments where our worlds seem to be spinning and nothing much makes sense. No matter what we try to do, the pain doesn’t go away. Sometimes, trying to numb that pain makes things even worse because numbing is just a temporary fix. We’ve all heard the ‘mind over matter’ discussion much more than is comfortable to stomach. “It’s not what happens to you but how you react to it”. “Your attitude determines your altitude”. Let’s be honest though: when life has just knocked you where it hurts and it’s pretty hard to see that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, it’s easy to start resenting the words of encouragement and the oft-quoted sayings. The reality is that it’s easier to sulk and feel like life’s unfair than to put in the work of dusting ourselves off and starting again. But the thing is that truth is truth. It doesn’t change whether we’re in a space or place to accept it or not. Ultimately, in every moment of struggle or difficulty, it comes down to choices and will. When it comes to pain, you can either get depressed and swallowed up by things or you can let your pain be your fuel.
Without delving into the philosophy of it all, I think it’s safe to say that there are times where it comes to just making a decision about turning left or right. This is so, regardless of how awesome the highs are or how tough the lows are. In almost all cases, it’s much easier to focus on the lows than to be grateful for the highs. Today, make a quality decision for yourself and, like the great investors of this world, make the pain work for you and fuel you to glory.
The Bible provides us with the example of Jesus Christ, the Messiah who was faced with pain, betrayal and rejection at a level that would make many of the things we complain about look like a joke. It is made clear that we are to follow this model of one “who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God”. If you’d like to know more about Jesus Christ, we would love to share his message with you. Please click on the banner below.