“Becoming a
Person of Hope”
Life
would be easier if lessons could be learned solely from reading books. If our cognitive grasp of daily challenges
were substantive to change our behavior, many people would live pain-free
lives. Whenever difficulties emerge,
they would read M. Scott Peck’s The Road
Less Traveled, Martin E. P. Seligman’s Authentic
Happiness, Wayne Dyers’ The Power of
Intention, Florence Scovel Shinn’s The
Game of Life and How to Play It, Louise Hay’s You Can Heal Your Life or any number of good, compelling and
empowering self-help books. Implementing
recommendations of these spiritual teachers would reverse any developing
negative trend. Lingering obstacles do
not dissolve in response to academic and theoretical approaches. If it were that easy, psychology, psychiatry
and religion would disappear overnight.
Rather, personal suffering forges character in the furnace of affliction
and trials. Living through adversity
develops perseverance; faithfulness when internalized determines character
which in turn yields enduring hope.
“When
it rains, it pours.” That Murphy’s
Law-like adage describes unpredictable and inexplicable occasions when
confluences of misfortunes drain your resources, creativity, and joy. A tenant’s failure and refusal to pay rent
creates a residual and negative domino-effect of late tuition, delayed car
repairs, juggling utility bills, legal fees and other unexpected
expenditures. Compounding your financial
stress, someone sabotages one of your cars.
Still, how do you discover character and hope as your financial
liabilities escalate? Interestingly, it
is exactly these myriad challenges that yield hope.
Acquainted
thoroughly with personal crisis and compulsion to overcome adversity, Helen
Keller posits, Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and
suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and
success achieved. Becoming a
person of hope is not an armchair, academic exercise reminiscent of Monday
morning quarterbacks. Character does not
emerge in the plush, bourgeois and pristine settings of collegiate classrooms
and libraries. It also does evolve from
watching documentaries. Character forms
as the dross of personality defects and past pain are burned away in life’s
refining oven. As the heat of the
refiner’s furnace scorches the impurities of precious metals, life’s daily
adversities burn away traits and inclinations that impede spiritual maturity
and personal development.
Embracing
straightforwardly life’s trials and tribulations is as many-splendid as the
individuals willing to learn. Keller
insists redemptive and transformative suffering strengthens the soul. Similar to the Christian paradigm of crucifixion
and resurrection, each person has an opportunity to utilize his suffering to
find new meaning. Pause and consider
your current difficulties. How might Almighty
God use them to conform you more greatly into the mind, heart and character of
Christ? Pain additionally clarifies a
person’s purpose as it determines how you expend your time and talent on
worthwhile pursuits. Are you preoccupied
with daily busyness? Are you
accomplishing anything meaningful? Are
you contributing to any causes greater than your own personal benefit? Do you go to a job or do you go to purpose? Would like to spare other people the agony
and angst you experienced? Perhaps, your
pain radically alters your ambitions thus redirecting your talents toward
serving God? I witnessed a very talented
young lady undergo a metamorphosis of ambition.
She transferred her personal goals relating to broadcast journalism to
becoming a spokesperson for an charity combating a debilitating digestive
disease with which she lives. Today, she
no longer measures success with quantitative measures such as salary, titles and
public accolades. Instead, she utilizes
qualitative, intangible and factors of how her labor of love positively affects
lives. She accepted her diagnosis but refused
to allow it to define and limit her. She
became a person of considerable character and hope. In turn, she instills hope in the lives of fellow
sufferers.
No comments:
Post a Comment