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THE PLUSSES AND MINUSES OF LIFE
(A page from my journal, March of 1984, written while in a log cabin along the border of the Yukon Territory) There is a principle in life that is set in stone and it's one thing we'd all do well to learn: Life is an inevitable series of plusses and minuses. For each minus there is a plus, and for each plus there is a minus. Even the good events that occur in our lives carry with them the seed of a corresponding negative occurrence. Every rose has it thorns.
For example: We move to the continuously sunny and healthy desert of Arizona only to discover that the scorching heat of summer must be endured in order to enjoy the pleasant climate of winter.
We move to Florida to enjoy the beautiful tropical weather only to find that we must also undergo the risks of hurricane season.
We hope and pray for a promotion on our job, and then when at last it comes, we discover that a large slice of precious time with our family must be sacrificed to obtain the increase in finances.
We finally buy that piece of property and build our dream home, only to have a family move in next to us who turns the adjoining property into a slovenly, trashy eyesore.
In our effort to obtain the muscular body of the weightlifter we soon find that there are no shortcuts; we must put in tough, sweating hours working out at the gym.
Everything in life has its price tags, and each one of us must ask ourselves if it's worth the price we're going to have to give in exchange for it.
There's no way of getting around the fact that life cannot be lived without going through an ongoing series of unavoidable difficulties. Jesus himself said, "In the world you will have tribulation (meaning troubles…)." It's these inevitable ups and downs of life that shape our character, turning us into the type of person that we ultimately become. The test of our worth as an individual is the skill we demonstrate when coming up against the inescapable, unpleasant places in life's road.
Unfortunately, the result they produce in some of us is the development of a sour, negative, complaining attitude … in which case, we need to remind ourselves that no one really cares to hear us complain about our tough breaks. Everyone has their own set of problems that they're much more interested in focusing on. And what good does complaining do anyhow? It's certainly not going to cause things to get any better. An obvious truth we all know, yet how quickly we forget it.
Sooner or later we've got to face the fact that troubles are here to stay, and they're not something that we can run away from. They're as natural a part of life as breathing. Birth is always preceded by pain. Spring is always going to be followed by winter. The sunshiny day is soon going to be followed by gray skies and rain. Youth will all too quickly be replaced by old age.
There's just no getting around the fact that life is going to be filled with pluses and minuses.
The wise man will face up to that fact and deal with things as they are, not with things as he'd like them to be. The Bible tells us that "man is born to have trouble as surely as the sparks fly upward." And Jesus himself said, "…Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world." When will we ever learn that the disagreeable things in life are as certain a part of life as the agreeable. To escape the objectionable parts of life is simply NOT possible. THE IMPORTANT THING IS TO TRAIN OURSELVES HOW TO VIEW THESE OBJECTIONABLE PLACES WHEN THEY DO ARISE, AND WHAT ATTITUDE WE NEED TO EXHIBIT TOWARD THEM.
First of all, we've got to accept them for what they are … an unavoidable part of living. Like it or not, life is made up of difficulties to be overcome.
And secondly, we've got to learn to take them in our stride, and not let them spoil the joy of living. If we only expect to enjoy life when we have overcome all of the troubling incidents that come our way, we will find there are very few times in life that we're going to be happy. When we overcome one problem there'll soon be another one coming along to take its place. Life truly IS a series of inevitable plusses and minuses. Happy is the man or woman who, learns that ----- while admitting the difficulties we must face from time to time----he or she still does not permit them to spoil the joy of living.
The tree that survives the inevitable stormy blasts is the tree that has learned to bend with the recurring gale. The test of our mastery over life is the skill with which we have learned to get along with our difficulties.
Posted by cdrnorth at October 3, 2005 12:51 PM