Lost and Finding Joy

No matter what happens in our lives, we will be okay. We must remember this life is not always meant to be easy. If it were easy, we would be weak. We weren’t made to be weak. We were made to be strengthened. We were made to experience, learn, and grow. At times the growth can be painful, however it is essential. If we allow it, our pain will eventually be turned into power.

What causes our pain in the first place? Believe it or not, it’s not the actual events or circumstances in our lives. Looking from the outside in, it can look and feel terrible, even dire. But, looking from the inside out, it’s not good or bad. It’s just what is happening. It’s a temporary thing in an eternal existence. The pain comes from the meaning we put behind the thing that is happening. Is it good? Is it bad? Can anything good come from it? Can we learn and grow from it? Can we truly accept things as they are?

I’ve learned gifts can come from any situation. For example: We can learn to be more patient, more understanding, more loving, more empathetic to others going through similar situations. We can learn to have gratitude and appreciation for everything and everyone in our lives, despite anything we may have labeled as wrong. True growth is realizing nothing is really right or wrong. Nothing bad is happening to us. We can begin to look at difficult situations from a more neutral stance; treating them more like a math problem to solve or overcome, rather than being a victim or believing something bad is happening to us.

Possibly one of the greatest blessings through our trials, is connecting more with the spiritual side of our nature and surrendering to something greater than anything in this world. We only have so much time here. What are we going to do with that time? Are we going to focus on what we believe to be wrong in our lives and waste precious time? Or are we going to focus on the many blessings we have enjoyed and are enjoying along the way? We can be grateful for everything. We get to take our lessons with us and grow from them.

The pain can be very difficult. I’m not going to downplay it. It’s a part of our experience. On the other side of that pain, however, is power. The power to know that we are something greater than anything we can get attached to in this temporal life. Power in knowing that with God we are always okay — no matter what. Power in knowing that out beyond ideas of right doing and wrong doing, there is a place (the poet Rumi). That place is full of unconditional, non-judgmental love and acceptance. That place is there waiting for each of us after we learn the lessons and get the gifts life has to offer us — a place where we will be whole, perfect, powerful, and even stronger. In the meantime, we turn our pain into power when we have gratitude and appreciation for all of it – the perceived good and bad.