From a Mess to a Messenger

How is it that some people face difficulties with grit, resilience, and determination, while others wilt under the same circumstances, or shy away from the challenge?

It's said that an eagle has only one enemy, the crow. When an eagle comes down to catch its prey, a crow may fly above the eagle and come down its back. The eagle is vulnerable at that moment as the crow tries to remove the eagle's feathers. The eagle does not fight back. Instead, it rises higher and higher. At some point, the crow knows that it cannot breathe in the rarified air. The eagle is saved from harm because it flies higher.

I love reading well-written biographies. The inner struggles of a man or a woman become apparent. We watch that person's life unfold against a backdrop of struggles, difficulties, repeated setbacks, and discouragements. Obstacles threaten to overcome their most cherished values. 

And then we find that the person rises above complications and worries. That's why their story gets written up. Very often, it is the inner spiritual strength that gives a person the power to keep on. 

Eugene Petersen created a colorful expression for his commentary on Jeremiah: "A Long Obedience in the Same Direction." Wow! What a perfect description through which to view Jeremiah's struggles.

The Psalmist put it this way in Psalm 52. "Why do you boast of evil, you mighty man? Your tongue plots destruction; it is like a sharpened razor, you who practice deceit. You love evil rather than good...But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God's unfailing love forever and ever. I will praise you forever for what you have done; in your name, I will hope, for your name is good. I will praise you in the presence of your saints."