Facing the Hard Things

This image is one of my all-time favorites. For so many reasons! Several years ago, my wife and son and I got to go on a dream vacation with our best friends to Wyoming, exploring the beauty and mystery of nature in and around the Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. This perfect shot from the Snake River features my son carelessly laughing with delight at the intensity with which I was both attacking the challenging stretches of whitewater and getting mercilessly drenched by the pounding spray. Both of us are clearly oblivious to our best friends and river guide in the raft around us and my wife / his mom safely waiting for us at the end of the adventure. Our excellent guide had instructed us before embarking that the front seats were the ones that would demand the most vigilance and effort from the passengers, and that the front right position was the one that would bear the brunt of the whitewater’s ferocity. No. Freaking. Kidding. I settled into that spot with manly determination, grabbed that oar with the resolve that our lives depended on it, and gave that dadgum river everything I had. Don’t get me wrong. I loved it! But I didn’t lighten up until we glided into our landing position. And my son was laughing the entire way! The kind of free hearty laughter that came from knowing he was  safe in the midst of the thrilling adventure. And relatively dry compared to the man-on-a-mission in front of him getting violently soaked the whole time. He thought it was hilarious how much his old man was being relentlessly pummeled by the fury of nature, while he had a “front row seat” to the action. And honestly, I wouldn’t have had it any other way. 

Let’s get real, though. Not every challenge is one we are eager to face. Not every hard task promises to bring thrills and delight along the way. And we frequently don’t ride with the assurance of a seasoned and capable guide leading our safe passage through the whitewater and the promise that the whitewater we are about to face is only moderate at worst. Many of the challenges we face in our daily lives are far more intimidating. Sometimes even terrifying. We don’t know what will happen. We aren’t sure if we’ve got what it takes to overcome them. We don’t relish the grind of facing the hard, the daunting, the scary, or even the boring over and over and over until somewhere down the line we can’t even visualize right now, we might be able to ease up and take a breather. Often, and for some of us – way too often, life is just plain hard. And if we want to experience the best of life, we have to face the hard things. If we want the people we love most to believe in us and trust us to have their best in mind, we have to face the hard things. If we want to steer clear of the traps and prisons of avoidance and addiction, to be able to look our own spirit in the eye with the contentment that are giving our best and not punking out, we have to face the hard things. 

When we face the hard things, we grow stronger, even though we may feel weak in the knees and weary in the soul. When we face the hard things, we expand the territory of our freedom. When we face the hard things, we make it more possible for those we love to relax and enjoy the journey. When we face the hard things, our people come to respect us and appreciate us more. When we face the hard things, we bless those around us, even as we bless ourselves. When we face the hard things well, we grow in our ability to ask for help from the right sources. When we face the hard things with whatever help we truly need, we grow in our faith that we are not alone. And we may just grow in our rock solid knowledge that there is a Power great than us, ever ready to lift and empower us whenever we admit our need and ask for help. 

Sometimes things that seem small or easy or insignificant to someone else may seem really hard and daunting to you. In fact, the inspiration for my post today came from the fact that my website is in the process of getting a long-overdue upgrade and overhaul today. I had been so intimidated by some of the “behind the curtain” challenges of my website that I had simply avoided dealing with it, and had even stopped blogging altogether. Until I realized there was a guy I trusted enough to ask him for help. And since asking him to help me, I have been writing fresh posts twice a week and am eagerly anticipating the unveiling of my new improved site any moment now, as I write these words. So, if you need help facing the hard things in your life today, please reach out. I would be delighted to help in whatever way I can. The best part of your adventure awaits…