I’ve Overcome the Blow
In younger days, I was full of vinegar. Like Will and Ned in Unforgiven. Now, I like vinegar, but it’s strong, and it doesn’t go with everything. Like me when I was young. It’s not the easiest thing to find your place in the world, but we are doomed to wander until we do. The process of coming to terms is difficult and draining. It takes a lot out of us. Life rounds our rough edges as we age. We may not become mellow, but we become less tart and acidic.
Pain levels. Hurtful episodes teach us (if we let them) to be less extreme and more even-handed. It’s been said that what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, but that may not be the case if it maims us. To have ridden out a storm and survived with a story to tell is no small feat. No one should wish a tempest on another, but such difficulties have place in our lives. Dr. L.C. Johnson used to say, “A calm sea never made a skillful sailor.”
Many modern-day believers shake their heads at the faithless disciples fearing when Jesus was with them and sleeping while He prayed. Truthfully, I don’t think we are better than they. I know I am not. Sometimes, I cringe in fear when faith should fill my view. It’s not that I don’t believe- it’s that my life has been filled with failures and set-backs. I’ve been hurt, and, to quote the Barn, “Anxiety magnifies fearsome objects.”
I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, and I’ve taken a lot of hits. Because I get hit a lot, I get knocked down a lot. That’s what happens to most boxers. The compilation of blows weakens them. But, when I get knocked down, I get up. I don’t know when I learned this, but I am convinced that resilience is the key to survival in the physical and spiritual struggles of life. In time, the cobwebs will clear and the fight will continue.
It’s been harder for me to overcome the shots in my foot than to dodge bullets, but I’ve done both. As a matter of fact, some of the hurt I’ve learned to take well. Still, the ache of some events will never really be gone, and Satan comes to me often with remembrances. Many times, I’ve had to convince myself that what I claimed was past was really past. As real as these things may be, so is the presence of God. His perfect love casts out fear.
Sail on, sailor. Trouble is part of living. God uses even negative occurrences for His glory and our good. He means for you to have a beautiful life. It will not be perfect, but it will be beautiful with flaws covered by grace. Life will be smoother and sweeter when the trials are over, and you have learned the lessons of obedience and endurance. One day, we will be changed, complete and thankful.
Sterl
« Go back