subject: Make the Most of Every Day [print this page] 'Oh, my friend, it's not what they take away from you that counts. It's what you do with what you have left.' Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Humphrey was a vocal and dedicated supporter of the civil rights movement in America in a time when it was not popular to be so. Humphrey's determination to stand up and be counted cost him dearly amongst his friends and political cohorts, and if that wasn't bad enough he also lost the Presidential Election of 1968 - to Richard Nixon. You can bet he had weeks when he felt the wall against his back. You can bet that, some weeks, he would have longed for things to be different.
It's not fun when you seem to be the only one not making it, not on board or not like us. We all have days like these. When we stick out like a sore thumb or life just spins out on us, when we put so much in and seem to get nothing out.
I have a picture in my mind of an old Star Trek movie, when the Spaceship is under attack and the Captain orders Wharp Speed evasion tactics. As the Ship ducks and dives, the Ship's Engineer shouts out above his protesting, screeching generator 'I don't think she's gonna make it Sir!'. Of course the Ship does make it. But it is a close run thing.
So how do you survive days like these? When you need a miracle, a friend or at the very least a better Spaceship? When you are the very definition of the word Loser? Here's a thought... it's not what they take away from you, it's what you do with what you have left.
They say that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Although this is the last thing I want to hear on a day from hell, there is a grain of truth in there. Even when I lose something, there is something waiting to be gained. When something bad happens, I can learn something good from it. I can learn to overcome, I can learn wisdom, I can learn humility, I can learn when to stop, I can learn to laugh or learn to love.
I think sometimes God wants us to stop hanging on to the things we want to keep that have no value to who He wants us to be. What does He want with my reputation, my old ways of thinking, the things I use to prop my life up, my secret places? What does He want with the things I am terrified to lose? I think He wants them to be filled with Him, with His peace, with His love, with His purpose. But you can't fill something until it is empty.
So on days like these, when it may feel like you are losing everything, in reality, you have everything to gain.
'You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you. You're blessed when you're content with just who you are-no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.' Matthew 5 v4-5, The Message
