MCB CAMP LEJEUNE -- Thomas Edison was told as a kid, “You’re too stupid to learn anything.” Dr. Seuss was rejected by 27 publishers for his first book because they thought it was no good. But they didn’t quit. Sometimes life throws horrible stuff our way and we face all sorts of obstacles. Too often those crises have a way of driving us to our breaking point. How do we avoid getting to that point? Since we can’t avoid crises for an entire lifetime, the issue isn’t about getting away from obstacles but rather learning how to bounce rather than break.
Think about a glass that’s slammed on the floor. It’s going to shatter. Replace the glass with a super-ball, one of those rubber balls that kids love to play with. No matter how hard you slam that ball, it won’t break. It simply bounces. This is the perspective we need when we think about the difficulties in our lives. It begins like this: Stop seeing obstacles as unbeatable problems.
Just because an obstacle is in your way doesn’t mean you stop moving! When there’s a mountain in your way you figure out a way past it. You go around it. You climb over it. You dig under it. If you have to, build an airplane. My point is that you have to exhaust EVERY avenue to overcoming the problem. You never. stop. moving! The Bible talks a whole bunch about overcoming trials and/or troubles. Just one example:
Jeremiah 1:19 ~ They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.
There is a general principle in the Bible that affirms that God IS present with us and will aid in helping us overcome the difficulties in life. But how do we work on getting over the insurmountable?
Hope for a better tomorrow. Hope is what allows us to bounce instead of break. Rather than fixating on the problem of today, maintain a future-oriented outlook. You are a person who has value and worth, so anticipate a better tomorrow.
Memorialize your problems and your victories. When God was leading Israel under Joshua, they came to the Jordan River and didn’t have a great outlook for crossing. But God stopped the waters so the people could cross. Afterward, they decided to memorialize God’s work:
Joshua summoned the 12 men he had selected from the Israelites, one man for each tribe, and said to them, “Go across to the ark of the Lord your God in the middle of the Jordan. Each of you lift a stone onto his shoulder, one for each of the Israelite tribes, so that this will be a sign among you. Therefore these stones will always be a memorial for the Israelites. (Joshua 4)
Remembering blessings from the past helps us as we go through crises today.
Take it in bite-sized chunks. How do you eat an elephant? ONE BITE AT A TIME! Lame joke, I know, but you get the idea. Overcoming your crises won’t be an instant thing. Some days you’ll feel like you have the strength of a lion. Other days it will be all you can do to take baby steps. Never. Stop. Moving.
No obstacle is worth breaking over. We don’t have to break. Be someone who can bounce.
The Chaplain’s Corner covers everything faith related. Facts not attributed are purely the opinion of the writer.