Make friends of your troubles

Photo by Roan Lavery on Unsplash

I like to go for quiet walks alone after dark.

Though my route is safe, I am often followed by stalkers.

They are the troubles of life that haunt me on a lonely road on a still night.

When I was young, I tried to outrun them.

When I could not outrun them, I tried to exorcise them like demons.

The wisdom of my age, however, is that I know I can neither cast out the troubles of life nor outrun them.

They will always be with me. Wherever I go, there they will be, too.

We live in a culture that believes that if a person can gain enough power and make enough money, he or she can live free of trouble.

It’s funny (not funny) that most of us don’t believe that in our heart of hearts, but we can’t think of any better way to live. So we just go with it. We spend our lives trying to “move up” because we think that by “moving up” we might just be one of the lucky few to gain the upper hand on trouble.

I think those who did “move up,” maybe even all the way up, will tell you (if they’re honest) that all you get when you “move up” is more expensive trouble that can screw up life more for more people.

We can’t out-earn and out-smart trouble.

Trouble is a constant in life, no matter your tax bracket, title, and ZIP code.

So make friends with your troubles; they will always be with you.

Choose to be happy, no matter what, because the matters of life will never line up with your plans or your wishes.

“…for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need: I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:11b-13).

Grace and peace.