Uncomfortable, difficult, troublesome, nerve-wracking, stressful, painful, tear-laden and woebegone-these are just a few adjectives describing tough times. We’ve all experienced them, some of us more painfully than others but everyone in this world has their tale of woe to tell. So how do we cope? How do we find solace, peace and anything positive in tough times? First, we begin by understanding the reality of this dimension-that everything has two sides, and that for every positive there is a negative; for every curse there is a blessing. With this in mind, let’s look at 7 benefits and blessings of tough times.
1. Make us stronger
It is a fact of life that muscles get stronger under stress. That’s why athletes and people concerned with their health and longevity lift weights and workout. Stress is part of the strengthening process. It’s tough when one is tired to forego the comfort of a recliner, couch or bed, but if we do not resist such temptations the result is that we turn into a soft mass of mush with all its debilitating physical issues. Tough workouts make us stronger. So do tough times. If we didn’t have tough times, we could never become strong. Therefore, as uncomfortable as tough times are, the positive action is to embrace them.
2. Build patience
Patience is a great virtue. It keeps us from becoming spoiled and entitled. It deepens our character and fortifies our substance as a person. Tough times demand we learn patience. If we don’t, we’ll have a nervous breakdown or develop other mental, physical or emotional problems. We have to learn to wait. Patience is the virtue of waiting. All things come in their proper time. The seeds we plant must eventually bring a harvest. Patience is the process of nurturing the seeds to fruition.
3. Force us to rethink our lives and values
When times and conditions are rough and tough they force us to rethink life and our place in it. We often need this jolt. As Socrates said, The unexamined life is not worth living. Rethinking often leads us to reformulate how we manage our life and its circumstances. Such examination often sets us upon a new course to greater fulfillment. When we don’t examine our life, our actions, behaviors, morals, ethics and conduct, we become stale and swamp-esque. We need tough times to keep the waters of our being churning so they can cleanse themselves of impurities. Stagnant waters create stagnant lives.
4. Potentially transform us into diamonds
A common chunk of coal or a diamond-which would we rather be? If our choice is to become a diamond, we must submit ourselves to the heat, pressure and time necessary to create the most exquisite of all gems. By doing so, we will gain great value. The simple truth is that if we do not submit ourselves to the heat, pressure and time necessary to become a diamond, we will remain an ordinary old chunk of coal-common and relatively valueless. Diamonds are made under extreme heat and pressure over an extended period of time, not by a mere and casual blowing of an intermittent wind. Therefore, tough times are a welcome condition. Without them we remain unpressured, untried, unchanged… and common.
5. Make us appreciative and grateful
There is probably no greater spiritual virtue than being grateful and appreciative-not just for those things, events and conditions we personally like, but for everything we get in life, whether we perceive such things as blessings or not. Sometimes, the greatest gifts are the tough times, the heartaches, the heartbreaks, the stress-filled days, months, years or even decades. The bottom line of human life is that we are human. The human form should not be taken lightly. It has greater purpose and design than is commonly known. It is a blessing beyond blessings, and regardless of what our condition is in life, we should be grateful for it because, spiritually speaking, we may never get it again
6. Allow us to see what’s real and important
Tough times readjust our focus and make us see what’s important in life. Too often we get sidetracked into the superficial rags of materialism and worldly involvement. We become consumed with things that don’t matter at all, although we think they do matter. But what of the things that really matter-life itself, love, wholeness, health, family and… God.
7. Turn our consciousness Godward
This is the greatest benefit and blessing of tough times-they often force us to redirect our attention inward to God and away from all that is external, worldly, superficial, material and meaningless. Without tough times do we ever look inward? Honestly, no. We’re too involved with enjoying that which is external. The trouble with this approach is that we may become so magnetized by externals we live our entire life within the “Great Without,” forsaking the blessings and triumph-generating life of the “Great Within.”
Summary
Tough times do bring stress and hardship. However, when we open our eyes to their benefits we are greatly blessed. Only great stress can create great peace. Only great testing can create great souls. Let us, therefore, embrace the tough times with an undaunted spirit and grateful attitude. Doing so will be of enormous value to us and to our soul as we move through the highways and byways of our human journey.
