Dr. Robert Schuller, renowned author and pastor, puts it like this, " Tough times never last, but tough people do!" So many times, we look at our situations and circumstances and we think to ourselves or sometimes to anyone in earshot, "How much longer is this going to last?" In our minds it is only natural to look at our afflictions and adversities as the worse thing possible that could ever happen to someone, and in our mind we only want a solution or cure to fix the problem so we can move on to a better day. In today's FTM Thought I want to suggest to you that just as Dr. Schuller states the tough times won't last, but it is the takeaways from those tough times that will last and make us a better person because of them if only we will allow the lessons to resonate in our hearts, minds, and souls.
So many real-life examples of how the actual thing that appears to be destructive in life, is the one thing that has to happen for the outcome we are seeking to take place. For example, the blacksmith has to plunge the iron into the fire, and then pummel the iron with a hammer until the iron actually reaches the shape that allows it to reach its potential. Tough times in this example are what created the tough creation that will endure. The plight of a seed is another grand example of this principle. We take a seed, bury it in the ground and then the seed's adversarial journey begins. For a seed to overcome its adversity it actually has to die first. Then as the supply of nutrients makes its way to the dead seed a miraculous transformation begins. A tender new plant is born and it must fight its way to the surface so that the sunlight, rain, and other elements in nature can better provide what is needed for this plant to produce its fruit. Tough times never last, but tough trees do!
You may feel like that shapeless piece of iron or that seed buried in a mound of despair that doesn't provide even a glimpse of what the outcome could possibly be, but you must endure. You must persevere, and you must hold on to hope which is the essence of our faith. The title of today's message came from a radio broadcast I was listening to the other night on my way home from volleyball practice. The pastor delivering the message suggested that in every instance that we only see tribulation or affliction as a determent to our life, but there is actually a revelation hidden within that will carry us forward and make us stronger in the end, if only we will hold on to our faith that God doesn't make mistakes, and that God is with us through all of our hardships, hard times, and all of those "tough" times in life. This isn't an easy thing to do, but if you believe, if you trust in that belief, and if you hold on to the hope that God's plan will produce a positive outcome for you or for someone else, then you can reach the place where you believe that tough times won't last, but the inner strength you have gained will last a lifetime.
Does this mean that all tough times are going to healed, corrected, or reversed? Not necessarily, but what it does mean is that if we will seek God and His plan for our life we will reach the revelation that the tribulation we are enduring is actually the very thing that will provide us an opportunity to change the world we live in and the lives of those we live with, work with, and share life with each day.
I started today's message with a quote from Dr. Robert Schuller and I want to end today's message with another quote from the same man. In a section of his motivational and inspirational "Tough Times Don't Last" book, Dr. Schuller provides us with the following reminder, " When you've exhausted all possibilities, remember this: You Haven't." Don't ever give up, Don’t ever quit, and keep pushing upward even when it feels like you have nothing left in you to push. "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me" Philippians 4:13. Paul also reminds us in Galatians 6:9 "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." And one last scripture from God's disciple in the New Testament as he wrote to Timothy near the end of his life here on earth, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." Stop looking at your tribulation as a destructive force in your life, and open your eyes to the work God wants to accomplish through you in the midst of your new-found revelation!
Coach Carter
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