Sunday, April 3, 2011

TAKE HEART

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

John 16:33


Reality is…life is rough. Sometimes we are able to carry on in our daily life with some pleasantries and an attitude of “life goes on” those days are a blessing, sometimes though we just want to hide from life and people. When life stinks you have few options, you can either do something to change it or learn to live with it. But how ever we choose to deal with our life, it's often easier to deal with when it's shared with a friend. God gives us friends to help us through life's little disasters {and the big disasters!}


In many situations we have to learn to live with our difficulties because our life is often intertwined with other people who have life situations that effect us and we need to learn to accept those difficulties as well as our own. Humans are basically a clump of matter riddled with anxiety, self-consciousness, worry, doubt and sin. Although our sins can be forgiven and God doesn’t hold those against us if we accept His gift of forgiveness, but we still have to consider the consequences to our sins, and accept that our humanness often causes us problems that are reflected in our life here on earth.


When we marry and have children (or are a child) we commit ourselves for a life time and in that lifetime there is going to be situations that we are put in that are perplexing, uncomfortable and sometimes embarrassing. When we are a part of any community of people there is going to be conflict, unfairness, and other problematic situations. So what are we to do? Walk away? Stay and be miserable? Make the best out of the life we have? Change our self because of it? Close our self off from the world? What is the answer?


I surely do not claim to have the full answer, but I think that the bible does. Humanly speaking, walking away or closing ourselves off from the world, seems like an easy way to deal with conflict. But from what I understand of the bible, God wants us to use our difficulties (or burdens) to comfort and help someone else. There really is comfort in knowing that someone else can relate to our situation or that there is someone that cares about our situation, but if we keep our lives to ourselves we may never know the struggles of others and they will never know ours.


Should we go around telling everyone we meet the details of our scattered and shattered life and that if they really knew the life we lived they would be mortified? No, I don’t think that is a good idea. But it does seem like there comes a time when a friendship begins to develop that reality can and should be shared. It’s not a true friendship if you only allow a person to see what you want them to, it’s actually kind of fraudulent. We do have different levels of friendships, but when a friendship has been pretty well developed, truth about the ups and downs of life should be shared. Not shared because we want to be a burden or that we want to be a downer or because we want others to feel sorry for us…. but because God tells us to carry each other’s burdens.


"Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2
Every one has difficulties in their life, whether it be relationships that are troubled, illness, finances, dysfunctional families, wayward children or friendships going bad we all have them. So if we all have troubled lives or at least troubles in our lives, then why is it that we don't depend on each other more for help and support, a helping hand or a warm smile? All of these things can make a difference in someone's life.

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