We live in a world of hard knocks, a world where we can learn and progress and gain knowledge. We grow from the many experiences we have in life. Many times our sorrows and problems help us to understand another person’s sorrow. When we go through similar trials, then we are more sympathetic to others.
Eugene Hansen said, “I heard my father remark on more than one occasion, ‘I don’t mind being educated in the school of hard knocks—it’s the refresher courses I keep getting that are the trial.’”
The hard-knocks teach us patience. It helps to mold us into better people. Our trials help us to become strong. We can compare it to a rough stone that tumbles in a streambed and gradually becomes smooth and beautiful. All the jagged edges have been worn off. It’s like the iron ore that is plunged into the Blacksmith’s refining fire, burning off the impurities and infusing carbon to make it stronger. Then the hammer blows begin to shape it into something useable, something of value.
H. Burke Peterson said, “We should understand that a life filled with problems is no respecter of age or station in life. A life filled with trials is no respecter of position in church or social standing in the community. Challenges come to the young and to the aged, to the rich and to the poor, to the struggling student or the genius scientist, to the farmer, carpenter, lawyer, or doctor. Trials come to the strong and to the weak, to the sick and to the healthy.”
Sometimes we put the blame on others or on God, wondering why we have to endure such problems. We ask ourselves, “Why me?” Marion G. Romney said, “I have seen the remorse and despair in the lives of men, who in the hour of trial have cursed God. And I have seen people rise to great heights from what seemed to be unbearable burdens.”
Will we curse God or endure our trials? If we really think about it, we wouldn’t protect our children from all disappointments, sorrows, and pain. Trials help our children to grow and mature. Disappoints are part of life and we grow as we learn to endure them. If we shield our children from suffering, we aren’t doing them a service.
Some times we feel that our trials are unbearable and we don’t realize that the Lord understands how we feel and that He is here to help us through it. But we must have faith.
IN HIS STEPS
“The road is rough,” I said.
“Dear Lord, there are stones that hurt me so.”
And he said, “Dear child, I understand,
I walked it long ago.”
“But there is a cool green path,” I said.
“Let me walk there for a time.”
“No child, “ he gently answered me,
“The green road does not climb.”
“My burden,” I said, “is far too great,
How can I bear it so?”
“My child,” said he, “I remember its weight,
I carried my cross, you know.”
“But,” I said, “I wish there were friends with me
Who would make my way their own.”
“Ah, yes,” he said, “Gethsemane
Was hard to face alone.”
And so I climbed the stony path,
Content at last to know
That where my Master had not gone,
I would not need to go.
And strangely then I found new friends,
The burden grew less sore,
As I remembered long ago,
He went that way before.
– Leona B. Gates
Written by Linda Weaver Clarke, author of Melinda and the Wild West, a Semi-finalist for the “Reviewers Choice Award 2007.” To contact the author, visit http://www.lindaweaverclarke.com
Linda Weaver Clarke received her Bachelor of Arts Degree at Southern Utah University in 2002. She writes articles for several newspapers and teaches a Writing Workshop, encouraging others to turn their family history into a variety of interesting stories. She is also an Aid for the ESL program, helping the Spanish-speaking children in grade school. She has written a historical/fiction love story, Melinda and the Wild West, published by American Book
Publishing. This book was a Semi-finalist for the Reader Views “Reviewers Choice Award 2007.” This novel is the first of five in a family saga. Linda is happily married and is the mother of six daughters and has four grandchildren.
Tags: burdens, despair, disappointments, faith, God, hard knocks, patience, problems, sorrows, trials
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