Under Attack

Sometimes the best sign that you are accomplishing something worthwhile is the increased level of resistance that you face.  To put it into a Christian perspective, why would the devil attack if you aren't doing anything?

We have transitioned from a beautiful Spring to a sultry early Summer.  We still have the humidity of Spring but have added the heat of Summer.  The result is oppressive.  With abundant moisture the plants are growing rapidly and the need to pare back the growth is constant.  You can practically see the grass grow.

With Summer comes a transition in the types of flowers we see.  It also means an increase in the number of insects that tend to swarm any living thing.  Black-eyed Susans and Sunflowers are now becoming the dominant flowers seen across the pastures and roadsides.  If you look closely at them however, you see myriad small six-legged creatures seeking to make meals of them.  Those bugs then become meals for birds and on and on.

Growth comes with setbacks and attacks.  Just like in nature, it happens in our personal lives.  As we grow, new challenges seek to set us back.  The key is to keep on shining like the Black-eyed Susan pictured below.

Keep Your Focus

When you're balanced on a wire

And it's a long way to the ground

You look and see that there

Is not a net to be found.

What can you do but keep on going

Straight ahead just as you've been?

What put you up there on the wire

You don't want to do again.

Don't think about the problems

Or, what will happen if you fall,

Just focus on the road ahead

And you'll defeat them all.

Facing Struggles

There are a number of people that I know who are going through struggles right now.  Challenges are a part of life and they are one of the ways in which our faith grows.  If everything was easy we would find it even more difficult to depend on God than it is anyway.  I think we are genetically wired to depend on our own strength and efforts for survival although that seems to have disappeared in many of the young people today.  Maybe allowing the proliferation of ignorance and stupidity is nature's way of correcting an imbalance of some kind -- such as overpopulation.

I suppose that being aware of more of the struggles of friends and acquaintances comes with awareness of my own aging.  I hope to have many years left and I intend for them to be productive years, but I also acknowledge that I am older and sometimes my mind and body aren't as "in tune" with each other as they once were.  I certainly can't do as much physically as I could at one time, but I do try to get exercise of some fashion almost every day -- usually in the form of some type of physical labor.  When you have livestock that's fairly easy.

Not all struggles are physical, or health-related; some are mental.  The mental struggles are often the ones that drive the greatest growth.  Realization of our limitations is a mental challenge.  Recognizing that we are not "the center of the world" is something most people go through at some point in their life.  It is an ego check that helps us to gain perspective.

One of my struggles has always been to be sensitive to other people's view of things.  Those who know me closest will argue the following is not true, but I tend to see in black and white -- something is or it isn't -- there is little, or no gray area.  Again, those who know me best would say that I often point out the "gray area" in my discussion of various things, but to me they are subtleties, not core to most situations.  I have learned to accept that my view is sometimes incorrect, but it requires facts -- hard data -- to convince me otherwise.  I usually will question the data and the sources, but with time, if my own investigation supports what was presented, I will change to accommodate the new information.  It doesn't mean I will come to the same conclusion.

I have strayed a bit from my topic -- struggles.  I went here simply because there was a series of verses that jumped into my head this morning as I was contemplating the day.  They are:

"Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again: Rejoice!  Let your gentleness be evident to all.  The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -- think about such things.  Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me -- put it into practice.  And the God of peace will be with you."  -- Philippians 4:4-9

I hope that whatever struggle you may be going through, you will remember these words and that they will bring you comfort.

Perils of Progress

It seems sometimes
That personal growth
Is always followed
By a swarm of attacking
Challenges that continue
Until I succumb. The
Problem is that I don't
Realize the attack is
Underway until I have
Failed. It is then that
I seemingly awake to
Realize that the series
Of events leading to
Failure could not have
Been coincidence but
Could only have been
Organized against me.
Like Paul, I find
That the things I wish
To do, I do not do, and
The things I wish not
To do, are what I do.
Such are the perils
Of progress.