All right, I've been thinking. When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don't want your damn lemons! What am I supposed to do with these?! Demand to see life's manager!. . . And so on.
When I first heard this rant some years ago, I didn't think much of it until recently, I considered who life's Manager is.
When a person is frustrated and angry, especially at circumstances that are outside of anyone's control, there's a temptation to lash out at God. However, anger at God is never the proper response to anything, even our sorest trials. Being antagonistic toward God would only serve to tempt Him to be antagonistic against us. Furthermore, it would solve nothing. A wise parent knows the folly of giving in to the demands of a child throwing a tantrum. God is nothing if not a Wise Parent. And we are nothing if not children of God.
Getting angry at God for letting bad things happen isn't going to solve anything. I know because I've tried it, and that experience taught me a valuable lesson. God knows what we really need, and His plans are perfect. Sometimes, challenges, even painful, life-threatening challenges, are a necessary part of God's perfect plan for our ultimate happiness. When God gives us lemons, it's not because He likes watching us suffer, it's because He loves us enough to give us what we really need, even if it's unpleasant.
When we face challenges, we shouldn't lash out at God or become angry with Him. We should instead turn to Him for comfort, not demanding that He fix our problems, but asking that He lessen our problems, and/or help us be strong enough to deal with them. Each of our trials has a purpose. Try to learn the purpose(s) of the trials in your life, and you may be one step closer to alleviating them. That doesn't always work, but it's worth a shot. If nothing else, being humble and being willing to learn from your trials and let them strengthen you will make you a better person. That way, your experience can make you a stronger, wiser, more Christlike person, which is practically the entire purpose of life.
In the meantime, pain still hurts, but God doesn't intend to leave you comfortless while you endure it. He wants to comfort us and fill us with His Spirit, but because of our actions, He can't always do that. Despite being omnipotent, God can't always come to us. Sometimes, especially during our trials, we need to go to Him. Thankfully, there's one easy way to do that: through prayer. In a sense, Cave Johnson had the right idea, just with the wrong attitude. When life gives us lemons, we should go to see life's Manager, not to complain to Him, but just to draw closer to Him. There is comfort in being close to God, even if He tells us that it's not yet time for our trials to end. God isn't always willing to remove our burdens, because those are things we sometimes need, but He is always "willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort" (Mosiah 18: 9). Go to Him when life gives you trials, and He will also give you a sweet assurance of His love for you, which will enable you to take life's lemons and make lemonade.
No comments:
Post a Comment