Don't Make it Worse

I know that I make many things in my life much worse than they need to be. We all have things we must face each day - problems or things we feel like are suffering. We have a hard time accepting that suffering, or problems, are just a part of life. Jesus said himself in Matthew 6 that each day had enough trouble of it own. However, we go about making all that "natural" pain and suffering worse by attempting to fix it as fast as possible. We never allow things to just be as they are. We get angry about it, yell at people who we think cause it, hold resentments and grudges, blame anything outside ourselves that we can find. We make what we already feel and see as suffering worse as we use more "evil" things in our attempt to correct the perceived wrong, hurt, or problem. Listen to what God tells Job the man you suffered more than any of us could ever imagine:

Angry people without God pile grievance upon grievance, always blaming others for their troubles. Living it up in sexual excesses, virility wasted, they die young. But those who learn from their suffering, God delivers from their suffering.

Oh, Job, don't you see how God's wooing you from the jaws of danger? How he's drawing you into wide-open places— inviting you to feast at a table laden with blessings? And here you are laden with the guilt of the wicked, obsessed with putting the blame on God! Don't let your great riches mislead you; don't think you can bribe your way out of this. Did you plan to buy your way out of this? Not on your life! And don't think that night, when people sleep off their troubles, will bring you any relief. Above all, don't make things worse with more evil— that's what's behind your suffering as it is!

Job 36:14-21

The last line is my favorite: "don't make things worse with more evil - that's what's behind your suffering as it is!" How many times have I done this! I worry, get scared, angry, frustrated and I take my feelings out on others as they pass by me. I yell at my son who is simply having fun, but what he is doing is getting on my nerves because I am worried about a problems. I hold resentments and bitterness at the person, place, or thing that I think has somehow done something to me on purpose. I do not take responsibility for my own thinking and I cause more pain and suffering for myself and others around me.

However, when I am able to allow, accept, and know that problems are all around all the time and I can begin to see them from different perspectives - I can begin to see the opportunity in them rather than just the suffering in them. These are chances for me to learn how to do something differently, make different decisions, and maybe just learn how to let God control life as God wills. One of my favorite lines is change how you look at things and things change. If all I can is how am I suffering or having problems, there is no chance to see something else. I will end up doing something that makes it worse. However, if I can see those circumstances from a different point of view I may actually be able to solve something, or at the very least not make it worse by accepting life as it is.

Namaste'