The Hard Times

The Book of James begins with a strange bit of encouragement to "rejoice" when you endure trials of various kinds.  I've always found that to be a rather martyr's way to look at life.  I've never really said, "Oh, I'm so glad I'm having this hard time."  And I suppose I'll never actually feel that way, but I think I'm starting to see a bit of what James was trying to tell us in his ancient letter.  

I just saw a video that has been floating around Facebook about a young lady in a talent contest who was bullied growing up and her story moved all of the judges to tears.  She ended up singing a song she wrote out of her painful experiences and was of course unanimously passed on to the next stage of the competition.     

I got to wondering how she would have done on the show had she never been through all she had dealt with?  After all, it was her story and her pain that really provided the power behind her music, which in turn has now propelled her to great success.  Would she have been successful had she an easier road?

When I look back at my own life, I can honestly say that the times I've grown the most have been during the difficult times.  In fact, I have a really hard time coming up with any examples where I became a better person as the result of good or easy times. 

I've seen the same things with friends.  I'm old enough now to have had the opportunity to have watched people through several stages of life.  During those times, its amazing how much deeper, well rounded, and grounded people seem to become as the result of difficulty.  It's almost as if it requires brokeness to be whole.  So, perhaps James was on to something.  Perhaps he got to the point where he no longer had to look back on pain to realize how it benefited him.  Perhaps he got to the point where he recognized the hard time he was going through was actually making him better, and even if he couldn't see how yet, he was able to take comfort that it was still happening.  We don't rejoice in the pain......we rejoice in what the pain is doing for us.