Devastating or Edifying

The world is full of good and bad people, good and bad events, and a lot of heartaches. We lose loved ones, young and old, and lose our possessions or jobs. People endure starvation, deprivation, abuse of every kind, and all imaginable undesirable events. Some people and families crumble and spiral out of control or distance themselves. Understandable to be sure, life is hard for a lot of people and its a lot easier to remove yourself from the problem or remove the problem from you. Often that can take the form of running away or avoiding close connection. It's so easy because we often have our own individual default responses. It's a sad truth that when the seas get tempestuous a lot of people decide to jump ship on their loved ones. I'm not condemning them like I said it isn't easy to go through hard times, especially for those who endure things like loss of a child or infidelity. But I do think they miss out on a wonderful opportunity.

The easy way is sometimes the very best way to get something done, but in my life, I have often found that the hard way is the very best way to get through something. When crises arise fear often consumes a person, of course it does crises are scary, and it takes them on a ride down pain lane. We sometimes lash out or close off our hearts to others. But fear should not be our motivating emotion in our lives. As a person of religion, I believe that faith is the opposite of fear and can help a great deal in these situations. If we believe that all will be made right or that we are still loved regardless of the events of life we can make it through just about anything. We can believe in more than just Deity, we can believe in our friends and families. Just because someone has made a huge mistake does not mean everyone else will betray us too, we can decide to give people second chances or more. But in the end, I think one emotion or feeling can help us even more love. If we love those around us and those we encounter we will do what it takes to make things work. Sure we may think we love someone but what happened is too much, sometimes it is too much, but I think we can take the chance to love them even more.

As we express our love for those around us and find a way to make it through the hard times we will not only keep things together we will also grow closer. If a families finances are in dire straits with no reprieve in sight we can choose to coalesce with our family instead of hiding from them. They talk things through and find a way to think of it differently rather than being defeatist about things. The love will increase.

Positive emotions will always lead to better outcomes, fear has its use but love is universally useful. For love people have down amazing things, I'm not talking about the silly infatuation of Romeo and Juliet I'm talking about the love of that old couple you know who have been with each other for 50+ years. If you model your love of others after them you will be able and happy to push through all the obstacles that come up in your life. Hard times can bring hard growth rather hard hearts. Give it a shot, have faith and let your love for others override your fear for the unknown.