|
 Our
life is like a river. The destination is set, but the method of our
journeying is up to us. We can cruise down the middle of the river
at top speed, or we can hug the shore and spin around in eddies. We
can crash over rapids or chart a safer path between obstacles. We
can slum along the bottom in the mire and slime of sediment, or we
can glide along the sparkling surface where the air is clean. The
river is ours from birth to death. How we'll navigate it is determined
by the hundreds of small choices we make each day.
To discover our mission
in life we must see challenges as opportunities for growth and then
face them head on. Each challenge measures our strengths and progress.
Even when trials cause pain or sorrow, we must look for new lessons
in the pain and ask God for the power to learn and to grow from it.
Suffering focuses our attention on what matters most, and with God's
help, we can strengthen our spirits by learning patience, tolerance
and love. These lessons learned, we become co-navigators with God.
But when unlearned, we go into the eddies, spinning around, making
little progress, even blaming God for our unremitting suffering. One
reader wrote:
Life just seems so hard—so
demanding—I can't keep up. Is this it? Can I not expect any
more? Is my total existence here just to complete a mission? I'm
not to have any happiness, just wait for the job to be up so I can
"check out?"
This person despairs of
ever finding joy. He's in a whirlpool, sinking to the troubled bottom
where frigid darkness clutches him. He can wait there in misery until
his air runs out, or, like the young man in prison, he can swim up
to the surface and injoy the warmth and light of the sun. As he views
the sky, he may decide to reach for it, to expend some energy, make
new decisions, and seek a swifter current.
Some people believe that
the circumstances of youth set an unchangeable course for their river.
But, life is dynamic, and the river stretches and bends as we go.
A bad beginning does not inevitably lead to a bad ending. In fact
a bad beginning can give us strength to create a good ending. I love
the message in this letter:
I own a drug and alcohol treatment
center, and this is a gift I cherish, for it's given me joy beyond
words. Six years ago, God led me into sobriety from a life of heroin
addiction, homelessness, prostitution, two failed marriages—one
husband shot and killed—many close friends dead, and I was
abused in all ways as a child. In my sobriety, I've thanked God
many times for these experiences. I know the pain of my clients.
God gave me the gift to open the door to his love. For 39 years
God was preparing me for this. I know this today because I have
peace and serenity I did not know was possible.
For 39 years this woman
was forced into the mud. Having been "abused in all ways as a child,"
she got to know the bottom of the river—the seamy, murky side
of life that swallows victims whole and never lets them see the light
of day. But through unfathomable effort this woman looked up and found
God. With his help she kicked addictions and self-defeating habits
out of her life. She fought the undercurrents, disentangled herself,
broke the surface of her troubled life and got to a place where pure
air and light could provide new energy. She grew strong and rescued
others from the depths. Her beginnings then became the basis for a
greater good she would do in life. Her wounds became muscles. Her
fears became faith. Her mistakes became experience used to benefit
mankind. Like her, anyone can choose either to drown in past troubles
or to fight to live. The past can be a springboard and a resource
for accomplishment and the betterment of others.
Each soul will attain a
different level of accomplishment here. But whatever the size of the
ripples we make, one thing we must learn is to be grateful for whatever
trials and gifts our Father gives us in the journey. There is magic
in gratitude. It frees us from worry and competition in life. It opens
our hearts and hands to genuine love, ironically allowing our hearts
and hands to be filled again. Let us be grateful for our childhoods,
even for the negative ones. Let us recognize that life is what it
is, and that we are all doing our best. Let us especially be grateful
for whatever love we have received. Love is always a gift. We are
to praise God for all things.
I am a thirty-two-year-old Native
American and was raised by alcoholic parents. I too became an alcoholic.
I am sober two and a half years now and am in a program of recovery.
For years I thought I
was a victim of circumstances and questioned my existence. A few
precious words in your book changed that. When you said, "We all
volunteer for our positions and stations in the world, and that
each of us is receiving more help than we know," I was given hope,
and my faith in my higher power was intensified.
During those years when
I didn't think I could go on, I didn't acknowledge the powerful
force that helped me through it all. I see it now. A few times I
remember being told I'm not through here. It wasn't time for me
to leave. I cry tears of joy at the love I was given, and for what
I'm given now. It's powerful. Thank you.
Our Father knew that, in
trying to find and follow our life's mission, we would make mistakes.
He knew we would hurt ourselves and others, that we would follow false
ideas instead of truth. So he prepared a way for us to return—each
having learned from our experiences and grown from the things we suffered.
I was shown that Jesus Christ is that way. When he came he did more
than teach about love. He demonstrated the full measure of love when
he laid down his life for us, for our failings and mistakes—for
our sins. This was part of his mission, part of the entire plan for
mankind. We may not understand completely what he did or why he did
it, but I know with certainty that he is the way back to light and
truth, the way back to heaven. If you could feel his love for you,
his fairness and compassion, you wouldn't want it any other way. Life
on earth is our opportunity to learn to love unconditionally as he
loved, to serve and sacrifice personal welfare in behalf of others.
If Jesus' mission was to die for us, ours is to live for him. |
