I recently argued with someone who felt it wasn’t worth it to work through conflicts and struggles. He said he wanted it to be “easy” and it shouldn’t be so “hard”.
Here are my thoughts on the danger of choosing the “easy” path. And since I seldom believe in coincidence, I’ll use two recent events in my own life: a movie I saw (The Nanny Diaries) and a story I recently read about the Biodome in Arizona.
So sit back, get comfortable, open your mind, and read on, preparing to be amazed,…or least, mildly impressed, with how I can tie these two seemingly unrelated items together.
The Nanny Diaries
I watched the Nanny Diaries last night, and was pleasantly surprised to see two of my MCU favorites, Scarlett Johannsen and Chris Evans, had roles. SJ was the lead character, and CE played a love interest, so that was an unexpected win right out the gate….
The movie stars SJ as “Annie”, a recent college graduate who is unclear on a career path and takes on a job as a nanny for a wealthy family from the upper East side (5th Avenue) of Manhattan. She is struck by how this family seems to have it so EASY—household staff, money, power, privilege and just about anything their heart desires, yet everyone in that family is desperately unhappy and searching for something more. She wonders how can they have it so “easy”, yet not be happy or fulfilled?
The Biosphere
In the 1980’s, a group of scientists created a massive biodome called the Biosphere 2 in the Arizona desert. It was designed to mimic the perfect living environment for plants, animals and human beings. The air and water were purified, and even the light was filtered. They successfully created ideal growing conditions for the fruits and vegetables that would sustain the people living there and everything – trees, bushes, plants, etc. were chosen because of their ability to thrive in these conditions. Throughout the course of this (still ongoing) experiment, people lived there for a few months at a time. Everything, and everyone appeared to be thriving. Until a certain point, when the trees reached a certain height, and they would fall over and be uprooted. The scientists were baffled.
Eventually, they realized it was the lack of wind causing the trees to collapse. Stress on the trees was necessary to keep them healthy and growing. With no wind– no adversity, no stress placed on the trees, their roots were not able to grow deeper and stronger to support the trees’ weight as it grew. It was in the struggle that they grew stronger.
The Connection
The reality is this—we tend to see stress, struggle and adversity as problems to be avoided, rather than opportunities. We want to eliminate anything that is not pleasant or comfortable to us. In this, it is worth changing our perspective and mindset. Running from struggle, stress and adversity robs us of the opportunity to learn, grow & change. Challenges are what make us stronger in the long run.
Faith
For people of faith, the bible speaks clearly on this matter in James: “2Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-4)
It is repeated at least twice more in Peter that there will be challenges, and when we face the challenges (rather than running from them), it is a testament to our faith:
6 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. 7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.(1 Peter 1:6-7)
12Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. (1 Peter 4:12)
I can’t think of a way to close this post that brings the message home more clearly than what I’ve already shared, so I’ll just close with this: Search your heart- bypassing the fear, pride, ego and doubt that might plague you. Gather your courage. Face the challenges you’ve run from.
The joy CAN be found in the struggle.
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