C.S. Lewis said this about hardship: Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.
Thought
As humans, when we are going through hardship, it is easy to view Lewis’s quote and think, “I didn’t sign up to have an extraordinary destiny, I’ll be just fine with ‘ordinary’ if my life could be without hardship.”
Facts
But life is life, and life often throws us curve balls and experiences we have no control over. My friend Bob who is battling acute myeloid leukemia, can certainly vouge for this.
Hardships make or break us.
Reflection
A few years ago, a college basketball teammate and buddy of mine was battling cancer, and when I checked in on him, he turned me onto Eric Greitens’ book–Resilience: Hard-Won Wisdom for Living a Better Life.
It’s one of those books I will read two or three times because it has so many pearls of wisdom about life and, most importantly, resilience.
Early on, Greitens defines resilience: “Resilience is the virtue that enables people to move through hardship and become better. No one escapes pain, fear, and suffering. Yet from pain can come wisdom, from fear can come courage, from suffering can come strength–if we have the virtue of resilience.”
Truth
As a Jesus follower, I know no one took on pain, fear, and suffering and turned a hardship for humankind into an extraordinary destiny for all as He did.
His example and His never-ending presence should serve as our foundation in obtaining the wisdom, courage, and strength Greitens writes about so that we may better live life on life’s terms regardless of the crap it sometimes throws our way.
1 Peter 5:10, “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”
P.E.A.C.E.
Jay@EagleLaunch.com
