LIFE IS FULL OF TRIALS
Tuesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
My dear encountered couples:
“Happy the man who holds out to the end through trial! Once his worth has been proved, he will receive the crown of life the Lord has promised to those who love him.” That is some advice of James that we need to hear over and over.
Are you going through any trials right now? How long have they been going on? Is it someone you live with who is your trial? Maybe it’s the ongoing struggle to make enough money to survive. (I know someone who after years of dealing with the cost of living has finally made it. He moved all the way up from the level of dire poverty to poverty.) Maybe it’s your car that’s always giving you problems. You can’t live without it, you can’t afford to live with it, but you have to have it.
Life is full of trials. If we’re fortunate enough to come to the end of one, there is always another waiting on the sidelines.
But those are the things that can make us better - or worse. It depends upon how we face them and deal with them; it depends on our attitude towards them.
Trials are the things that not only show our worth during the time of the trial, but which after they do their thing can make us really worthwhile. Why does life have to be like this? I don’t know, but it is.
If trials couldn’t work for our good, God wouldn’t allow them. It takes suffering to make a good poet. Many trials are needed for sainthood. Hang in there!
