Growing Pains

I wish I could just swallow and digest the principle of growth through suffering. Then instead of freezing up or worrying or feeling unhappy, unloved, and confused I could just throw my head back and tell the universe, "bring. it. on."

If you're not sure what the heck I'm talking about, neither am I. But here is a sum up as I have been experiencing it.

God needs his children (you and me baby) to be something we might not exactly be naturally. In my case the list includes humble, patient, loving, tender, forgiving, understanding, helpful, brave, faithful, and diligent. To name a few.

And it turns out there is only one way to get us there. We need to face a heaping plateful of pain. Because when we are faced with something that tears us up, scares the beejeebers out of us, and seems insurmountable on our own we (hopefully) start listening to God. We recognize that any peace or success we have is going to come from him.

So here is my promise to myself today: when something happens that I can't stand, instead of reacting with anger or fear or hurt, I am just going to let it sit awhile. I'm going to say to myself, "this is okay, just a little piece of pain pie to shine me up a bit, and with God's help I can totally handle it."