Sunday, December 04, 2005

Just let it be tough

I have decided (and thus is shall be written) that we have a fixation with fixing things (no pun intended). When we are going through something in life that is difficult, we always want to fix it. When someone we love is having a tough day, we have this desire to do something to cheer them up, make them smile, make them happy. I think that I need to stop with the fixing. I've realized that things sometimes just need to be hard.

Since Derek and I have got here I have been struggling to find th balance between an unhappiness (being lonely, dealing with BC drivers, etc.) and a deep-seeded joy in knowing that I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. The struggle comes in thinking that because I am joyful and at peace with our current situation, I should also be happy about it. I think this just isn't the case. The reasons that the Lord has for bringing us here are too complex and indepth for me to even fathom them all, however I think that I do Him an injustice by trying to immediately be content with this change of pace and space. I have come to understand that working through a rough time causes you to rely on God in a deeper measure than you do when everything is looking up. The Lord is asking me to trust him, through my sadness, despite my lonliness, and above my frustrations. In looking for the quick fix, I miss the lesson, that is the purpose of the trail to being with.

The Lord is teaching me a lot about lessons. If I am willing to accept them, there are lessons in almost everything. When the drunken temp employee reams me out over the phone for not paying him after he's forgotten to submit his hours, there is a lesson. When I lack a creative outlet and have to work that much harder not to lose sight of my artistic vision, there is a lesson. When I have to learn to sacrifice time with Derek so that we can work on his schoolwork, there is a lesson. I have to remember that the only way out of this situation is through it, and the only way to do that is with the strength that is not my own. The quick fix, the easy solution, is a way to brush by the knowledge that comes by enduring the test. Sometimes, we just need to allow things to be hard. Let ourselves have a bad day, because when we're on the other side of it, we may just be closer to the One who has brought us through.

Oh yeah, and it doesn't hurt to talk about it either. :-) I have missed you all.