A few days ago I wrote about “stuff.” You know what stuff I’m referring to, right? The stuff that just happens. I want to talk a bit more about stuff and the verse from Romans 8:28 which tells us that all things work together for our good. What that verse says to me is that difficulty is designed to lead to blessing. The only reason it sometimes does not is because we fight it or we fail to acknowledge it.
Many times we fight the difficulty (stuff) that is happening to us rather than accepting it in faith that God knows what He’s doing. When we can’t get rid of it, we sit around crying or whining about it so that we don’t see the good that does come from it…or worse, we sabotage the good along with the stuff! So what are we to do?
First of all, look for the good, watch for it, expect it. Every time you face difficulty the first thing you should do is change your mindset toward expectation of good. Just that one act alone will greatly lessen the difficulty you are experiencing! It is amazing what can happen when you simply change your mindset. If you develop this skill you will soon realize that it’s no big deal. Actually, most everything that happens to you – both good and bad – is really no big deal. Sure, our egos want us to think it is a big deal, but it’s usually not. In fact, if you’ll take the time to recall all the events of 2009 that at the time they were happening you really thought were a big deal – you will notice that it really wasn’t. Our egos tend to enjoy drama. You can get that under control by stepping back and asking yourself, will this matter one year from today? Or, will I even remember it in five years?
I’m not suggesting that the difficulty you may be experiencing doesn’t bring some sort of pain with it – sure it does. And that pain is very real! But if you fail to realize that the opportunity which accompanies the pain is also very real – you will not only be in pain, you’ll miss out on the blessing that the pain was designed to create. Most of us avoid all forms of death, right? We see death as the enemy. I’m not just referring to death of the body, but all kinds of death. If you are fired from your job – it’s the death of that position. If your spouse leaves you for another lover – it’s the death of that relationship. Throughout nature it is demonstrated that death brings forth new life. Death is a necessary step in getting something better – it’s not the enemy! A seed must fall into the ground and die before it can bring forth a new plant. The seedling must die to give way to the sprout. The sprout dies to give way to the stems which will bare flowers. The flowers must die to bring forth the fruit. The fruit must die to bring forth the seed. The pattern we see demonstrated is that the new life is greater than that which died.
Anytime you are experiencing a death, whether it be in a relationship, employment, your possessions, or anything that is no longer useful to you – you are then provided an opportunity for a new life, or new job, new opportunity, new relationship, etc. Looking toward the new is similar to how a mother giving birth deals with the pain of childbirth. She is in anticipation of that new life that is coming forth. The pain is still very real! But the expectation of new life is greater than the pain.
We can approach all of the stuff that happens with this same attitude. Look for the new birth. Look for the new opportunity. Look for new growth. In doing so, you will get your mind off the pain and the experience will be worth it all in the end.
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