It could always be worse

It could be worse

I thought last night on the things we go through to accomplish our goals or to stick with things we just don’t want to give up on in life. The stuff we do when we do what we have to do as the saying goes.

I had just completed my first Graduate Level research paper for my master’s degree. The paper was entitled “Global Business Cultural Analysis: Saudi Arabia.”

It had over 6,500 words and over 16 references.  As far as my education goes, it was the most in-depth research assignment I had ever done and that includes the three term papers I did in consecutive years covering the battle of Gettysburg. 

I was mentally exhausted. I wrote this lesson immediately afterward so forgive me if it all sounds elementary but think the left half of my brain shut down not too long after that.

However, the right half did work, my being left handed, and thus a thinker, I got to thinking. What are we as individuals willing to go through in order to keep what we have or attain what we want?

We always say we want to be better Christians but do we do what is necessary for that? Do we pray often? Do we consciously seek Gods will in all we do? Do we read the word? I mean do we read it not only as a book we want to be familiar with but also as a guide on how to live and conduct ourselves? Christ gave the golden rule a lot of credit when asked what the greatest commandment was. However, he also said in the beginning of that answer that it was to love the lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul. To love God means to honor God. To honor God means to obey God. Dietrich Bonheoffer once said, “Only he who is obedient believes and only he who believes is obedient.” So, are we obedient to God? What are we willing to go through? What are we willing to do to be better Christians.

Life could be worse. It could always be worse. I have said that many times to myself as a surveyor, in July, knee deep in swamp muck, survey instrument strapped to my back, 1000 feet to go, through those briars just ahead, that you will have to cut down with this brush axe, for the next 300 feet. Oh yeah, and it ain’t even noon yet and it’s supposed to hit 100 degrees. In the shade. Then my boss (who was 65 years old and tougher than I could ever pray to be) would say, “Yeah, well, it could be worse.” That was the last thing I wanted to hear. Nevertheless, it made sense. I thought at that moment that somewhere someone was going through something far worse than what I was currently experiencing. So, at that moment, I would suck it up and move out.

It got to be a way of thinking for myself. It made me grateful for the little things and at the same time, it made me realize that what I am going through is nothing compared to what others have done in accomplishing their goals. I use the phrase often with my mom when she starts to explain to me how unfair life is or how this trouble or that trouble is just one of the many we have. The toilet won’t work, the Lawnmower is broke, I can’t reach the light bulb in the kitchen, and where have you been? You ain’t been by here in a while?

Hey. It could be worse. Always could be worse. We find our strength in the Lord. Philippians 4:13 says to us, “I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me.” I remember watching a boxing match between Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson. The first one, not the one where Mike bit his ear off. As I watched him come into that ring to fight Mike Tyson, who at the time was the most feared Boxer, a destroyer of all he faced, I noticed Evander Holyfield’s white and purple boxing trunks and the verse he had on the waistband. Philippians 4:13. I looked it up. Then I said to myself, “Evander is ready for this fight”.

In our lives, we have goals, some of those goals are stated to please others and it is those goals that have the least chance of survival. If you tell someone you are a Christian because that is what you think they want to hear, then your Christianity will last about as long as that conversation. If you honestly desire to know Christ and what having him really work in your life is like, then you have to mean it in your heart. It is not a fake it until you make it proposition. The same goes with other aspects of your life. In marriage, if you get in thinking you can always get out, then eventually you will. But if you have it in your heart to make it as husband and wife no matter what life puts you through then in more cases than not, your marriage will not only survive but also come out of any trial stronger than before. If you determine to be a Husband, a father, an employee working out of town, a graduate student, a Sunday school teacher, a son, a brother,

And first and foremost a Christian, and if all of that is heartfelt and not said to impress, you will be all of these things and more.

After all, it could be worse.