I woke up this morning and walked out to my car to start my round of meetings and appointments. I had parked on the street as our garage is still full of boxes from our move. As I got closer to my little white Jeep, I realized it was covered with coffee.
At first I thought kids were just walking by and someone bumped an elbow or something. But you don’t get this kind of coverage by accident. Every inch—front sides and back were covered with coffee. Someone clearly worked at this. But: spoiler alert: They wasted their time on me. It takes a whole lot more than that to ruin my day. It may even have been the Holy Spirit’s gentle reminder to get my vehicle washed. It needs it..
Every good thing in our lives brings responsibility and worry. Our cherished children might be the best example of this. They are born into a life of happiness and possibilities but we spend our lives as parents worrying. When they become sick or hurt or estranged, the blessing that they are as our children brings the worst kind of heartache.
The house we fell in love with comes with issues. Leaks, bills, repairs, cranky neighbors. The beloved dog ruins the rug, the new computer loses all your emails. The pastor you love said something you didn’t like. Twenty-six centuries ago, an Eastern mystic said “Life is suffering”. Of course he didn’t speak English, so this word has been further interpreted as disappointing, difficult, or hard.
Yep, all of the above. M. Scott Peck, author of The Road Less Traveled wrote, “Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult—once we truly understand and accept it—then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.”
M. Scott Peck is a psychologist, and not one I subscribe to in directing my personal life, but even a blind pig finds an acorn sometimes, and when I read that quote I thought he had found a whopper. What I would add is how we transcend it. We transcend the difficulties of life by knowing this is not our home. By knowing every difficulty is a training course on elevating our spirits to rise above the problems and hardships of life. By understanding that once we truly go home we will understand all that has happened here, for we are 90 percent spirit and life is a obstacle course that we have to finish to become who we are to become. We have to learn to live above our experiences.
Maybe the best example I have seen is my friend Jesse, who was born to an addict, was shuffled off to foster homes at the age of seven and when he was pushed out onto the street at 18, with no understanding of the world and the need to work, committed a crime that put him in prison for more than 20 years. Now, with a master’s degree in Christian counseling he has earned over these years, he is a pillar of peace in a place of discord. His spirit soars above the melee.
I look at him. If he can do it, I can do it. Love and peace. In spite of the suffering, the difficulty and the disappointment.
Blessings,
Nancy
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