The Measuring Stick

Problems, problems, problems!  Big problems, little problems, silly problems, problems that just don't seem to go away.  We all, at one time or another have problems don't we?  I remember a long time ago a wise elderly man shared something with me when I was bemoaning one of my problems to him.  He said, "Well Joe, look at it this way....a problem is really nothing but another opportunity to succeed."  I don't know if he was quoting something he picked up along the way or if it was an original "Tomism"...he had a lot of those he shared with me back in the day.

He was a deeply spiritual man, Tom was, and that was perhaps one of the reasons I was so drawn to him....because, you see, back in those times I was very not spiritual, and in fact was living quite on the dark side of life.  That patient friendship (yes, he was really patient with me) proved to be, over time, a source of light that I could see and want, even as I continued to reject it.  It was one of the early sparks that eventually led to a fire that was lit deeply within me.  He was one of God's hands working with me in those days.

Fast forward now to the present time, and back to our problems.  One of the ways, in fact the only real way, that we can turn those problems into opportunities to succeed is to turn those problems over to the One who loves us, the One who listens, the One who cares for us, the One who is mightier than any and all of our problems.  That's not always easy to do is it?  We have this little thing in us that tells us "I can take care of that."  It's all about control isn't it?  Sometimes we just don't want to share with the One who is really in control, or ought to be....God.

That's the One with the measuring stick.