Perseverance

How do we actually accomplish this? How on earth can we find pure joy in our trials and tribulations? Why should we even think about trying to find the joy out of horrible situations? Well, the question is, why shouldn’t we?

Should we curl up in a ball, cry all day, and give up? Probably not the best idea, right? We hear, “Look on the bright side,” “Things will get better,” and “This too shall pass.” What if we took those sayings to heart, reached into our past bag of woes, and realized there always was — and is — a bright side? We are shaping our life and developing perseverance. We did make it through this or that, and all of that did pass and is behind us. It’s tough. However, I myself choose the path of trying to find the positive out of every situation, both good and bad, though it is not always easy.

I think possibly we should try to look at the reasons behind those trying times. Sometimes those reasons are right before our eyes, and sometimes they take time to see. Sometimes we may never know the reasons, and sometimes we aren’t supposed to. However, I feel that what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. For the most part, there is always a lesson in the good and the bad.

But if we can remember the awesome gifts we have been given and focus on that during trying times, it helps. What about the sweet holding of hands of an elderly couple, the sound of laughter, the sun, moon and stars, or a beautiful rainbow? How about the barely misses or the moments that made us? What if we could remember those moments that truly mattered and got us through our trials?

We go about our lives truly taking things for granted. We really are all guilty of the “woe is me.” What if we stopped and pondered on that? Maybe even for a moment we would see the neighbor beside us, who was suffering even more. Maybe they were looking for the how. How am I going to make it through this? What if the way you made it through was because you needed to share it with someone else who needed to hear your story?

So why are we so afraid to share? Well, I feel it is the pride and lack of humility installed in us as young children. Do this, or do that. Behave this way or that. Did we ever ask why? No, as young impressionable children, we were basically taught that if you don’t behave in one way or another, people wouldn’t like us. Most of us didn’t want to disrespect and ask why. It wasn’t meant as harm — only a certain nature of the times.

So now, here we are. Maybe, just maybe, it’s time to break that mold. Who cares what people think? What if your story makes someone stronger? What if then they made it through because of you? What if our perseverance, strength, and story could help by telling how we made it through and what made us stronger because of that trial?

What if our trials were not in vain, but for other people as well? What if we took our own trials and turned them into pure joy because of the ultimate awesome outcome we didn’t see? That outcome we shared — what we thought we could not see — and then what we went forward and saw in our lives.

What if we saw the mountains, beautiful sunrises, chirping birds, the moon, and the stars, and absorbed all that to see through those trials? What if we were here to grasp that awe and wonder bestowed upon us? What if, right? Well, my friends, we can.

So, share, absorb, be thankful, share your faith, share your stories, and have great joy in all you have been blessed with to make it through. Because no matter what we have been through, there really is always a rainbow.