Godly Bee-havior

This weekend I was over at my neighbor’s house mowing her lawn.  She’s a single mom who appears to have had a pretty rough life, without much support from family or friends.  Buzzing through the grass, I felt something on my leg.  As I went to brush it off – zap!  Then another, then another.   Zap!  Zap!  Then more zaps.  I had mowed over a nest of ground bees.  Before I could get away, I got nailed a total of 12 times.  A dirty dozen.   

I was instantly mad.  In my self-righteous angry way of thinking, I felt like I was doing something “holy,” helping my neighbor, and God should have protected me from harm.  Beyond the intense pain, I knew full well the ensuing effects of what was coming.  There was going to be a major headache, nausea, and severe itching.  With my skin burning like hot needles, I asked the big question we all ask at some point: “Why does life have to be so hard?”    

We all get tested in dozens of ways.  Life is filled with all kinds of these “mini trials.”  Mothers of toddlers know what I mean.  They get tested all day long.  Many of us face injustice at work, at home, or even at church.  Maybe it’s a case of someone we work with who takes credit for a project we finished.  A friend fails to honor a commitment and the relationship sours.  Our car breaks down.  Our basement floods.  Mini trials.  We all have them every day.    

What these kinds of events do is prepare us for larger issues.  Mini trials teach us how to handle discouragement over the dysfunction in our relationships.  It is here that we discover how to handle discomfort, disappointment, and discontent.  We choose how to react to small situations and every single choice we make prepares us for something bigger.   

What happens when we feel like we have just been mowed over?  Does life always have to be so challenging, and at times, so overwhelming?   Is there anything that truly prepares us for the times when we get blindsided and unexpectedly stung?   Proverbs 17:22 says, “a crushed spirit dries up the bones.  Proverbs 18:14 says, “A person’s spirit sustains them in sickness, but a crushed spirit, who can bear?”  It doesn’t have to be this way. 

The Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4, “we have this treasure in jars of clay.”  Paul is telling us that as human beings, we are weak, fragile, often broken as individuals.  The good news is there is a choice that makes us even more capable of rebounding from our trials.  Paul goes a step further saying, “we are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”  Like Paul, we can choose to be resilient. 

When we focus on our pain, it tends to bring up more memories of lingering resentments or insecurities.  But Paul reminds us that though WE may think we are at the end of our rope, we are never at the end of our hope.  God never abandons us.  Even when we get stung by venomous comments or judged in unfair ways, there is always One who loves us.  He never moves away.  He never changes.  And when we lack understanding, it is essential to stay in contact with Him. 

This week I will be praying for resilience to overtake the “crushed spirit” in all of us. 

-Mike Howard