Don’t get discouraged by losses suffered in the secular world
“Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in getting up every time we do.”
This quote, attributed to an eclectic group of people, is achieved with the proper perspective of life.
It was expressed by senior Billy Seal of the Farragut football team after a heartbreaking loss Friday night, Nov. 17, when he said about head coach Eddie Courtney, “He always taught us the best values of life, what to do after football.”
Life is not always going to turn out the way we want, but we must accept reality with graciousness and look to tomorrow, to the future.
In Joshua 1:2, the Lord said to Joshua, “Moses My servant is dead.” Joshua knew this already; they had been mourning for days. The Lord was simply pointing Joshua to the truth about reality.
Essentially, God was telling Joshua, “Moses is gone, and you can’t change that now or have him back; move on with the proper perspective of life.”
The solution to loss of any kind is not denial, but to face it with a positive attitude.
The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 37:7-8, “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret for him who prospers in his way. ... Cease from anger and forsake wrath; Do not fret, it only causes harm.”
God gives us the tools to be able to deal with all of our circumstances.
In the latter years of his life, C.S. Lewis had a remarkable correspondence with an anonymous woman from America. In his letters, Lewis urged the woman to deal with life in an emotionally honest way.
In all his letters, there are three themes that continually surface: honestly dealing with our emotional state, responding graciously to trials and trying people and being diligent in our prayer life.
When there are matters we can change for the better, let’s work to change them. When the circumstances don’t meet our concept of ideal, and we can’t change them, let’s resolve to rise up and go forward.
We can do that with the proper values of life.
We shouldn’t worry or fret about things that will pass into oblivion. Our focus needs to be dealing honestly with those matters that have eternal consequences.
