#The_Column
Painting The Perfect Picture
Vol 1, Issue 1
The building block and the stumbling block
Each and every day has its own challenge that is unique to it. Sometimes the challenge is easy to identify while other times we lose sight of the challenge amid our struggles. Sometimes we overcome the challenge and other times we fail dismally. But regardless of the outcome life keeps on moving and so should we. We shouldn’t allow temporary feelings and emotions to dictate our direction because we know that there is a better day in tomorrow -but yet we do-. Personally I think life exists more in the moments of misery rather than those of glory. If you haven’t had to be rejected, if you haven’t had to lose the thing/s you value most, if you haven’t had to suffer from depression, spiritual and emotional turmoil, then I can honestly say that your experience of life is not yet complete. I think the greatest battle we fight in this life is one against ourselves. One person says that in each and every one of us there are two wolves fighting against each other, one of good and one of evil and the battle of the wolves’ is won by the wolf you feed. That’s why to me the word of God is so important as a means or a tool for fighting the good fight. At times I’ve acted ignorantly and put myself at an unnecessary disadvantage by not praying and not reading the word as though I am not in a constant battle, as though there aren’t things in this world that are out of my control; as though there aren’t people that oppose my very being on this planet simply because of the person God has made me to be; as though life ends in the here and now. But life doesn’t end in the here and now and I don’t control everything, so these are things that I consult with God about. These are the things I pray about, that we may have safe passages as we pursue our dreams, that we may use the tools (The bible, prayer) we have been given to fight constantly and tirelessly, that we may be bold in the face of our enemies because we know the God whom we walk with. I don’t believe that challenges are ever here to destroy us more than I know that they are here to build us. We have heard it said time and again that God never gives us more than we can manage; and it’s true. The question that remains then is how does something that is out to destroy you build you? It’s the same as a baby learning to walk, (this may be a simple analogy) they will fall hundreds of times before they can actually put together a chain of consecutive steps. When a baby is learning to walk, it is not being punished rather it is being given an opportunity to liberate itself from the misery of crawling. However this opportunity comes with a series falls; these falls don’t necessarily teach the baby how to walk more than teaching it what to do if it wants to remain standing. With every fall, the baby gets up learns to negotiate the next step, maintain balance and to keep on walking despite the lingering thought of falling. This process continues until the baby has developed strong muscle tissue and a solid bone structure that keep standing and walking with hardly any effort now. There’s a saying that states, perception drives reality. So how do you see your challenge is it a stumbling block or is it a building block?
