Endure part 5
Life doesn't always go the way you want it to. Or the way you think it should. That's just a fact of life. That's just the way it is. So you basically have two choices: You can either let life wreck you... or you can live life to the fullest. And what that comes down to... is your attitude. Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it. Because what's going to happen is going to happen. A lot of the time we can't stop things from happening. You can't control everything. All you can really control is yourself. Some things, I think I'm trying to say, you just have to endure. That's why longsuffering is included in that long list of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. Some things you just have to grit your teeth and go through. The key there, I believe, is being able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Knowing that things don't happen just to happen... but that things happen for a reason. That the things we go through are teaching us. Guiding us. You can't learn from your mistakes if you never make any, right? You learn more from "failures" than successes. And, really, the only true failure is failing to try. It doesn't matter how many tries it takes. You almost always have to do something wrong before you can do it right. That's called learning and growing. That's what happens when you have that grit. That stick-to-it. That commitment. Because if you're not invested in something--fully invested, 100%--you won't be able to endure. You won't even want to. The juice has to be worth the squeeze, I think is what I'm trying to get across to end this Rant series. If you don't see that light at the end of the tunnel you won't even want to endure the ups and downs. And I'm not saying you have to be on an emotional rollercoaster all the time (or any of the time). Jesus has brought every mountain low and every valley high so that we could walk the straight and narrow path that leads to life. That's what He did for us on the cross. He gave us everything we could ever need by giving us Himself. His Spirit. His nature. His life. His love. So that's not what we need. That's what we have. That's who we are. We can endure because He endured. When Jesus went to the cross He knew all the suffering He was going to face was worth it. Because He was doing it for us. Because He loves us. The greatest love a man can have is to lay his life down for his friends. Give everything he has and everything he is. That's what Jesus did for us (and as us). So that's what we can do for each other. And by doing it for each other we are doing it for God. Whatsoever you do unto the least of them you do unto Him, right? How we treat people is how we treat God. Because God lives in people. So when we endure each other (and I might Rant about this aspect starting tomorrow, we'll see), we are really honoring God. When we work on that relationship with each other we are really strengthening our relationship with God. So just remember, in the midst of trial and tribulation, that it came to pass, not to stay. Tough times don't last, but tough people do. And when life doesn't go the way we want it to, we can still have joy in our hearts... and we can still love each other!