Blog 562 – 03.03.2017

This Too Shall Pass

Many of us have a tendency to get hung up, thrown off course, stymied by a storm, a tragedy, a death of a loved one, sickness or disease, or a disappointment. One cannot live a life without being confronted with all of the above. But I believe every storm always signals a period of sunshine and peace and that every closed door means a better one is about to open. I have found it so and it has only appeared otherwise in my life when I was hung up and focusing too narrowly on a particular problem. What we focus on becomes the reality of our life.

A preacher friend of my youth used to always say, “Keep looking up.” One of my favorite professors loved to talk about the Hawaiians and he often shared a particular quote. The old Hawaiian said, “The missionaries came and they said, ‘Look up, look up to Jesus.” And while we were looking up they stole our houses, and our land, and our women.” It is never enough to just look up, you have to also stay aware of what is going on around you, and especially where you are placing your thoughts, and your feet.

Often we do need to stop and take stock. Tragedy and all the things that I listed above have a way of helping us to do that and as such should be welcomed as well. There is nothing like a storm or a slammed shut door to get our undivided attention. Someone once said, “Sometimes God has to put a fellow on his back to get him to look up.” Our job is to become better listeners and learners than that. The best way to avoid a lot of long term trauma and drama in our lives is to learn from the “small stuff.” Someone else has said, “Don’t sweat the small stuff and remember it is all small stuff.”

Whatever it is, it will pass and a lot faster if we don’t try to hold on to it by telling it over and over to our friends hoping they will commiserate with our misery. Most of us have at least one friend like that whose continuing tales of woe sound like the Hee Haw guys who sang, “If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all. Gloom, dispair and agony on me.” These folks not only keep themselves down but would suck the life and positivity right out of you. One tool that I have discovered in dealing with friends caught in the depressed and downward spiral is to not agree with them or commiserate by even nodding assent that only makes it worse for them and you. I Just say, “O” meaning No or Erase to my own mind – this is baggage none of us was meant to carry around, not them or you. The sooner we turn loose and let go, the sooner the storm will pass and a new and brighter path open up for us. It is the law of life.

Your friend and fellow traveler,
David White