“Shall we receive good from God and not evil?” ~ Job 2:10
Job suffered greatly. His losses were so many that even his closest friends edged away from him. Yet, Job does not give up. He strove to glean meaning from his pain.
Life does not always proceed in the way we would like it to go. It often veers sharply to the right or left. Our will is not enough to keep it going straight (perhaps we would not want it to be so either…wouldn’t life be boring?). When life takes us in a direction we would rather not travel we are left with two essential choices:
- Deny what is happening. Fight to regain control over the wheel. Do everything in our power to resist change.
- Accept the change and adjust our life to the new reality.
When bad things happen, as they will, we always have a choice. We are never “stuck” unless we have made our minds to be so mired.
One Hasidic master said, “The real exile of
God is the force that challenges us towards change. He desires our growth. He wants us to continually mature and become greater than we were yesterday. The things that we see as challenges, or evil, are also opportunities. They contain the greatest kernels of growth. Seek the learning that inheres in each moment of joy or suffering. It is our best chance for real satisfaction.
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