“Family, friends, food – these are all good things. And yet they cannot be the ultimate source of our joy. It must go deeper than that, and because of God’s mercy, He has given us the true reservoir or joy. It is in Him. Trials, because of their very nature, threaten our temporal sources of joy, and therefore give us an opportunity to clarify to ourselves where our ultimate joy lies.”
(Michael Kelly) The older I get, the more convinced I become that much of life is about responding.
That’s the because the older I get, the more I see how much of life is actually out of our control. We do what we can to be proactive, prepared, and anticipatory of all different kinds of issues, but none of that preparation will ever make us completely ready for the things that happen to us every day….
And every day, nearly without exception, we encounter something unanticipated. Something unexpected. And, in many cases, something troubling.
The question, then, is always how will we respond. What will we do in light of the various trials that come our way through the week? What will we do with the argument in the relationship? With the suddenly disgruntled coworker? With the distressed child or the unexpected financial downturn?