Finding Joy in Pain: Because Perfection Isn't Called For

Sometimes in life we have to get hurt. It’s a necessary evil in life.  Sometimes you have to get hurt to truly feel joy.  Sometimes you have to get hurt to realize you deserve better. Sometimes you have to get hurt to give you an appreciation for what you have. Pain is necessary in life.  Let’s be honest…Life is not all sunshine and rainbows.  Life really sucks sometimes.  Like when your dog dies, or you fail a test, or when a friend betrays you.  Life can be really sucky.  I can sit here and muse about how life stinks or why life stinks, but I’m not going to do that.  Instead, I am going to ask the simple question, “What do you do with the sucky situations in your life?” When life gets hard you have two choices, you can either give up, or you can let it propel you forward.  Personally, I choose the second option. But take a moment to think how you handle failure and betrayal? Do you sit there and feel sorry for yourself; of do you get up off your butt and do something about it?  Oh, you don’t feel like enough? Get up off your butt and start working. Oh, your best friend betrayed you? Realize that you are worth more than someone who tears you down and makes you feel like a lesser person. I know all of these things sound harsh, but you can’t sit on your butt and beat yourself up over things you can’t control. SO, instead you have to get up and do something about the things you can control. In life bad things happen. In life we are betrayed and hurt. We get in fights with our friends and we make bad grades, but we can’t let those situations define us. Out worth is not found in these earthly things. We are not called to be perfect and we are not called for our lives to be perfect. What we are called to do is do the best we can and make the best of every situation. For example here are a couple of scenarios:

Problem: You make a C on your biology test.

Solution: No, biology might not be your strongest subject, but you can study even harder for the next test and DO THE BEST YOU CAN.

Problem: The boy you have had a crush on for the last year turns you down when you finally get the guts to tell him how you feel.

Solution: Realize you are not defined by his opinion of you and your heavenly father has someone even better in store for you. You might be a beautiful apple, but this guy might just hate apples. Just remember you are a force of nature and DO THE BEST YOU CAN to find your worth in the Lord.

Problem: Your best friend stabs you in the back and makes you feel like complete crap.

Solution: Take this event and let it help you realize that people are human. They make mistakes and they do hurtful things, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t love them. Yes it hurts, but you have to DO THE BEST YOU CAN to forgive the person.

Problem: You make a mistake that is against all of your moral values and you feel completely worthless.

Solution: You have to realize your human. You have to realize you are going to mess up and you are going to make the wrong choice, but God still loves you. You are still his prized possession.  So you have to DO THE BEST YOU CAN to forgive yourself, accept God’s forgiveness, and try not to make the same mistake again.

As you can see (and you probably know), life really stinks sometimes.  Bad things happen, we do bad things, and life can be completely and utterly unfortunate, but that doesn’t mean we are worthless. It just means we are all works in progress.  God isn’t finished with any of us yet, and he doesn’t expect us to be perfect (SHOCKER right?).  We have to remember that we are called to do the best we can in this life.  All we can do is try and make the best out of every situation and live for Christ.  I know life is going to get you down sometimes, but instead of sulking and letting it set you back, let it propel you towards amazing things. Realize that in life pain and joy go hand in hand, but that simple fact is  one of the things that makes life so beautiful.

John 15:18-19

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”

John 17:14-18

“I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by^[d] the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.”