There’s Always Something. Thank God!
There’s one line in my most dog-eared devotional book that gave me cause to pause the first time I read it and still does. It goes against everything in me but I know it’s right and true as much as I wish it wasn’t. The full truth be known it affects too much of our lives to be ignored. Oswald Chambers, writer of that line, said in it in essence: I feel sorry for the person who does not carry with them something in their circumstances with which they are struggling. This rather astounding principle — which I’ll call The Struggle Principle (TSP) — couched in this one liner can affect us regarding parenting, peace, prosperity, and perpetuity.
It Can Also Affect Us Physically
Meditation Machine is not printed on the apparatus at the Y where I work out but I meditate anyway. And recently on that machine with which I was struggling, whose nomenclature is Leg Lift, the principle above (TSP) hit me anew. From my position I had a panoramic view of the huge room filled with people in the midst of their workout. And every one of them was involved, as was I, in a struggle — whether it was lifting a weight with an arm, a leg, a hip, a back, or fighting against the resistance of a jogging machine. Not many wore a smile and no one appeared to be joyful but all were deeply engaged thus fulfilling the cliché, no pain no gain. Of course the operative word here is gain and the struggle is what makes it happen. Following is an example displaying the opposite of the Y’s robust activity but demonstrating a solid application of TSP.
Pampering Parenting
The Helicopter Parent is now an overworked title but seen again in the light of TSP it’s clear the practice borders on child abuse. Notice in this definition of helicopter parenting (by Foster Cline and Jim Fay in Parenting with Love) how every struggle is spared the child: Some parents think that love means revolving their lives around their children. They are helicopter parents. They hover over and then rescue their children whenever trouble arises. They’re forever running lunches, permission slips, band instruments, and homework assignments to school. They are always pulling their children out of jams. Not a day goes by when they’re not protecting little junior from something — usually from a growing experience — he needs or deserves. As soon as their children send up an SOS flare, helicopter parents, who are already hovering nearby, swoop in and shield the children from teachers, playmates, and other elements that appear hostile.
Pandemonium Peace
I once read an essay with such graphic writing that I can’t recall whether the images were visual or verbal, but the teaching intended still remains vivid in memory. The author was reporting an art contest where a prize was given to the painting which most represented peace. The entries were beautifully depicted — picturesque scenes of mountains, meadows, and gently flowing brooks amidst misty valleys draped in nature’s most colorful attire. There were dozens of such entries showing every season and every angle of the sun’s glow from dawn to dusk but none of those idyllic paintings won. What won was the scene of a dark, angry, stormy sky above a waterfall whose water was crashing with such force upon the rocky bed below that a ledge was almost hidden behind the white writhing foam. Almost, but not quite. Through a small open space in the falling water could be seen a nest on that ledge upon which a bird was resting peacefully. True and realistic peace in this world is not the cessation of struggle. It’s finding calm within it.
Prospects of Prosperity
I could never leave this topic without referring to what to me is the quintessential statement regarding it. The statement is best expressed through J.B. Phillips translation of James 1:2-4: When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives, don’t resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends! Realize that they come to test your faith and to produce in you the quality of endurance. But let the process go on until that endurance is fully developed, and you will find you have become men and women of mature character.
Thelma was Right — But no Longer!
Mimi and I often spoke with our friend Thelma who every Sunday set up shop in the church lobby to make available the music recorded in our worship services. We would laugh together about the uncanny things that seemed to always intrude uncomfortably into our lives. She even gave us the embroidered words as displayed in the image below — THERE’S ALWAYS SOMETHING. We’ve learned since that Thelma has gone to be with her Savior, Lord, and Friend. She’s now in a place where The Struggle Principle is obsolete: where never again shall there be sorrow or crying or pain. For all those former things are past and gone (Rev. 21:4). She’s where THERE’S ALWAYS SOMETHING. will never be heard again. THANK GOD!
