The World and Its Trials

Throughout my life, I’ve faced quite a few challenges, setbacks, and hard decisions.  I’ve been told that it’s normal to face these kinds of trials, but it doesn’t change the fact that they’re happening to me.  Right now.

And it’s hard.

My dad used to tell me not to grow up, to stay a kid as long as I could, because being an adult wasn’t as much fun.  

Now that I’m an adult, I both agree and disagree with that statement.

I have actually enjoyed growing up, learning how to be independent, and discovering new things, so that’s why I say I partially disagree with the above statement.  Granted, it is very fun being a child.  You basically get to do whatever you want, and you have no responsibilities.  No checklists, no schedules, just fun. Obviously, childhood has its own set of challenges, but it seems like whatever trial you’re facing in the current moment is the worst one you’ve ever faced.  So once you get to adulthood, the trials you’ve already been through seem miniscule compared to the one you’re going through right now.

It makes one wonder – why do our challenges seem so daunting in the moment?  

The world has existed for a rather long time (we can all agree that there’s been at least 21 centuries of human existence), so I’m inclined to believe that every challenge I face has been faced (in some way) by at least one other person in history.  Mathematically, that’s not too great of an assumption. It’s also what I’ve been told by a lot of my family and friends – “what you’re facing is nothing new to the world.”

If that’s the case, then why do I feel like I’m the first one to feel this way?

After thinking about this intriguing question for a bit, I have come up with the following answer:

Because it’s never happened to you before.

It’s the first time you’ve been through something like this – you don’t know how to deal with these feelings that seemed to just come out of nowhere.  Others can try and prepare you for these things all they want, but sooner or later you must take on the challenge for yourself.

The feeling of riding a bike isn’t something you can learn about from other people – it’s something you can only experience for yourself.  We can ask other people what it feels like and gain valuable insights. Others can explain to us what it feels like to have the wind in your face, the ache in your legs, or the pain of falling, but we won’t truly understand until it happens to us.

Don’t misunderstand me – I think learning from the experience of others is priceless and ought to be sought out continually as one goes through life.  Having a mentor (in fact, many mentors) will prove to be invaluable.

However, going back to our original question, that’s why it feels so scary to go through trials.  As humans, we fear the unknown, and the feelings associated with difficult decisions or circumstances are all new to us.  Foreign. Unknown.

Think about it – when you face a difficulty that you’ve faced before, it’s not so terrifying, is it?  You remember what happened last time, how you managed it, the mistakes to avoid, and how to proceed and make it through to the other side.  Similarly, when you talk to someone going through a challenge you’ve already successfully made it through, you sympathize with them, but you also usually (much to their annoyance) end up telling them something like, “I had that happen once.  It’ll turn out ok.” Why? Because you’ve already been through it and it’s not as scary looking back as it was when you were in the middle of it.

So what do we do?  We can walk through all of this logically, but in the end, we still have these feelings, and feelings are hard to get rid of.

As I was reading my Bible today, I was thinking and praying about this topic and suddenly, a verse popped into my head.  It wasn’t even a verse from the book of Acts (which I was reading), but from Psalms:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
   and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
   and he will make your paths straight.”

Psalms 3:5-6

Suddenly, I remembered I have a father in heaven who knows what my life will look like on the other side of this trial.  All I have to do, is trust him – take it one step, one prayer, one day at a time.

Are the feelings still there?  Yes – and they won’t go away anytime soon, but I’m asking Him to give me the strength to trust Him anyway.

And that’s enough.

Photo by Nikola Jovanovic on Unsplash