“Every problem has in it the seeds of its own solution. If you don’t have any problems, you don’t get any seeds.” – Norman Vincent Peale
We are always looking for ways to make things “better”, aren’t we? Yet, many times, when we say we want to make something better, what we really mean is that we want to replace something with another thing that is more pleasurable, enjoyable, or, at the very least, tolerable. We are not interested in improvement. We are interested in comfortability and predictability.
However, if we do not run into problems from time to time, we do not learn how to work through problems. We do not learn how to manage problems. We do not learn that problems can have a positive side to them as well as the negative side that we often perceive and experience. Problems, according to Norman Vincent Peale, give us what we need to tackle them as well as problems like them in the future.
We are afraid that our problems will be the end of us. That is not always so. In nature, there are times that problems are met with creative solutions. There have been times that the weather has been so extremely cold that animals of all kinds huddle together to share their collective warmth. They know that they are bedding down next to a predator. However, they also know that they and the predator will both die of cold if they do not share their warmth. As it warms up, there is a quick, uneasy truce when the animals go their separate ways. But, for a time, they were together.
That same experience is seen in hot, arid deserts. When the water gets too low, animals of all species live in a tense truce as they share from the same watering hole. When the waters are abundant again, all bets are off.
Our problems may appear overwhelming to us; however, there are always creative solutions. Sometimes, that solution may be to embrace the problem as completely as possible in order to understand it, learn from it, and then move away from it in our own uneasy dance. We may not want to be confronted by that problem in the future; but, if we are, we would be better equipped to handle it and problems just like it.
It might sound trite to hear; however, there is no problem that is too big that we cannot handle with the help of God. When we are overwhelmed, all we need to do is remember that God is available, willing, and, most importantly, able to help us through whatever it is we are experiencing.
FAITH ACTION: Try to view any problem that comes your way today as opportunity. It may not get any better; but, your attitude toward it will be 100% different.