Tip: Don’t let life beat you up!
I was recently listening to a friend of mine talk at a business function. She was reviewing some of the major challenges that she and husband had faced in their personal lives as well as in their own business. She said that she finally had to come to the place where she realized that in order to be successful, whether in marriage, raising children, or in business, she was always going to have to deal with challenges. She then made the comment that was both powerful and insightful: “Life is not easy, and I refuse to let life beat me up!”
I began thinking about that concept and I have come to the conclusion that it is a far healthier attitude than simply sitting back and being a victim of all of the challenges that surprise you in life. Even though I have lived a lot of years, I still find myself surprised and sometimes even shocked, when I work hard, and things still don’t go the way I want them to. Also, I often find myself surprised when occasionally someone says something to me that hurts my feelings. I have asked myself, “Where did I get the idea that everything was always going to be ‘rosy’ for me?” I once heard Joyce Meyer say, “Just because you get up one morning and decide that you are going to follow God in your life does not mean that the devil is going to throw out a red carpet for you and make life as easy as possible!” Very true!
We are all going to face difficult situations and that is just a fact of life. I have seen people deal with failure, death, loss, heartache, change, and other unexpected circumstances, and allow those very issues to make their life better rather than becoming bitter. It just becomes wearisome when there seems to be no end in sight to the difficult challenges that we face on an ongoing basis. I have also concluded that in many cases, the older you get the more you will have to deal with things in life that really do want to beat you up. I have seen this happen when people begin to have to bury their parents, deal with personal health challenges and face the uncertainty of financial security toward the end of their lives.
I want to be a player and not one who sits on the bench. I want to get in the game and actively pursue a winning course of life and not be defeated by the things I face each day. Simply stated, I refuse to let life beat me up!
Let me encourage you to not let life beat you up either. Be willing to stand up and deal with whatever comes your way. I am not talking about being mean, or rude, or hateful, but neither am I talking about being passive, lackadaisical, or lazy. Life is a great teacher, but it also dishes out some pretty tough punches. Take those punches and allow them to temper you like a blacksmith does when he pounds on steel. At the end of the day, he creates a strong object that has value, worth, and long-lasting endurance.
You can do it. I can do it. With God’s help, we all can do it.
Tip: Don’t let life beat you up!
Have a great week! God bless you!
Dr. Robert Rohm
