The Good Life (Ordinary Time - Day 11)

2 Corinthians 11:21-33

One of my best friends sent me a text yesterday that said this: "I broke the tooth I just had worked on in half and had to pull half of it at work with needle nose pliers. The dentist wants me to come in and I can't afford to miss work or to have the work done. I already missed two days last week because I was sick. This just keeps getting worse and worse. When is this shit going to get any better?"

As I read today's passage, it made me think of him. It also made me think of how sometimes we take a look around, take a look at ourselves, and think, "When is this shit going to get any better?"

Paul takes a look around at all the churches he's helped start, and he feels like he's losing his influence. It seems like nobody's listening. The people would rather listen to the egomaniacs standing behind the pulpit bragging about how good their lives are. So, Paul decides to take his hand at some egomania. He rolls off the list of how he fairs compared to these preachers who are hijacking his people: he's worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than he can count, been at death's door time after time, flogged five times within an inch of his life, beaten by Roman rods, pummeled with rocks once, shipwrecked three times, lost at sea for a night and a day, forded rivers, fended off robbers, struggled with friends, struggled with foes, been at risk in the city and country, been endangered by the desert sun and sea storm, betrayed by those he thought were his brothers, been through drudgery and hard labor, long and lonely sleepless nights, missed meals, blasted by the cold, and naked to the weather.

He looks around and wonders, "Am I doing anything right? Do ya'll even notice what I've been through? Do ya'll even care?"

We try to be good people. We try to make a difference in the world. We try stay faithful. Yet, the problems just keep coming and they don't stop. We take a look at our coworkers, the preachers, the leaders, the politicians, and wonder how they have the audacity to smugly brag that they've done anything we haven't done. 

We don't have the money to fix our cars, go to the doctor, or buy health insurance. We work our fingers to the bone only to have sixty percent of it go to child support, and the rest to go to bills. It's easy to talk about how good life is when struggle has not been a mainstay. 

We're left with the question: "What gives?"

We take a look back at some of our previous struggles. Perhaps we had a medical condition. Perhaps we had a vehicle that died on us. Maybe we had an addiction. Maybe we were jobless. 

Where are we now? What happened? Was there something pulling us forward from the pain of the problem into a solution that worked? As we look back, we realize that there was something that stood the test of time. Actually, there were a couple of things. There was this power pulling us and moving us forward through the trials of life, and then there was this faith we had that someday, somehow, things would get better. Our sleepless nights became a little more peaceful. Our pains started becoming a little less distracting. Our problems began looking a little more like opportunities. We realized that we weren't in this deal alone. We forgot about the braggers, the politicians, the people who had the "good life," and we remembered that we had just as good a life as anybody. 

Though the troubles come, and the pain gets worse, and the vehicle gives us hell, and the money isn't there, we bend but don't break. We sway but don't fall over. We pray but don't stop. We keep moving but don't back down. Our problems become vehicles to spiritual growth and open-mindedness. Our fears are liabilities that transform into assets. We discovered that God was there all along, and that once we started seeing past the misery of our troubles, we saw a light that guided us along. 

When we're right in the middle of intense pain and struggle, it's nearly impossible to see the whole picture. Perhaps, though, we can find a little help in going back and remembering the pains of the past. Maybe we can point back to a time when yes, there was death, but there was also life and resurrection. We remember that although that was going on, there was this. 

Today's Action: With every struggle we face today, think of a past struggle. Think of how it started with death and ended in life and resurrection. Let that be what points us to the Light in the midst of our current pain.