1 Peter 4:12

"Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:"
1 Peter 4:12


This is great. I think that we do this a lot. Our lives are going along, and something bad or annoying happens, and we're like WHAT!? This isn't the way things are supposed to go. Bad things happen to other people, but my life is supposed to be charmed and perfect. :) And obviously, to some extent, we can avoid bad consequences by making good choices. If we don't steal, we won't get caught stealing. If we don't drink, we won't get a DUI. And it is awesome to avoid as many ugly consequences as we can. However, many things in life don't work that way. We're here to be tested, and to learn... and we cannot learn if we don't run into things that are really, really, really hard to deal with sometimes. We won't learn rely on God unless we feel a need to turn to him, and we won't learn patience or how to deal with injustice unless we face things that require us to learn those lessons. And you know, even when we DO bring it on ourselves (I know I have made my life harder in many circumstances)... it still isn't strange. :) It's normal. It's life. We make mistakes, and we have to learn to clean up the problems we cause. God turns all of it into lessons, helping us to become better, stronger, more resilient, and wiser people. Today, instead of raging against the injustices and snarls in our lives, no matter who caused them, let's learn some problem solving so that when we're faced with the next one, maybe we'll be better at it. :) Let's jump in and, as calmly as possible, start straightening things out... working at each knot until it comes loose, and asking for God's help when needed.