Life is Hard

On one bright sunny day a few years back, there sat a blind man in a large
park beside a busy sidewalk. He had a sign he was holding saying, 'Help the
blind'. No many people paid attention to him, almost all passed him by not
dropping any money in the battered hat he had in front of him.

A little further down the sidewalk was another blind man. The difference was
that 90% of the people passing by stopped to drop some money in his
container. What was the difference? The second blind man had a sign that
read, "It's May, the flowers are in bloom and I am blind."

You see, each of us understand what it is to suffer hardship of some kind.
We may not be blind, but none the less we can understand the implications.

What makes your life hard? Is it your health or the health of someone you
hold dear? Could it be the loss of a job, or many worse the loss of one you
love to death? Maybe your children (or your parents) are not what you wish
they were or perhaps where you wish they were at. (Many families are
separated because of jobs or military service these days.) Could it be that
you are struggling with financial difficulties or even paying your taxes?
Could it be the loss of some freedom, either political or physical? Perhaps
you are struggling to feed your family and as you see, the list could go on
and on.

Is there an instant solution? Could winning the Mega-Millions Lottery solve
your problems? What about an instant health cure or the offer of a new job?
Could any one thing solve all of your problems?

If you are like most of us the answer is no. Few of us have just one
problem, but we normally have "one" large over riding problem on which we
focus on at any particular time. I honestly don't have the miracle cure to
offer for your problem, whatever it may be. But I can offer some advice on
how to cope with it.

First, we need realize the life and its problems are only temporary. We
actually do have promises that in the future, after this life ends we will
be in a much better place. But second, we need to realize that God cares
about each of us who are his creations and no matter how hard life gets that
never changes. Mathew 10:29-30 reassures us that a Sparrow doesn't fall from
the sky without God knowing about it. Also, we are assured that he knows us
so well, that he knows the number of hairs on our heads.

I know that what the Apostle Paul writes in Philippians 4:11-13 is quite
confusing to some people. He says, "I have learned the secret of living in
every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or
little." But Paul's next sentence tells you why he is content. "For I can do
everything through Christ, who gives me strength." Where are you looking for
your strength? Which of your friends or counselors can offer you what God
can offer? Which of them really knows you the way God does? You see, it
might be May and you may feel blind, but if Christ is the light of our
lives, we see beauty anyway.

Russ Lawson