My Hope For Today

Sometimes things will be going great. You're just crusin' through life with the sun shining on your face. Then, all of a sudden, things will take a bitter turn. A little rain cloud will come and block you from the sun and in the background you'll hear that dismal, unbeautiful music through the falling rain.Very bad day. Very bad days. But you don't want to complain out loud about them because you'll sound as troublous as they are. And maybe, even then, you'll remember a certain scripture verse, or hear a little whisper in your mind telling you to be grateful still, or that you shouldn't complain because you might have been the one that caused the situation to worsen. Then you might feel even more despondent, perhaps a little sick, or angry even, if you know that its true. But then what? You know your in a sad situation, you know things are a little gloomy. So, then what? What are you supposed to do?
I don't really know. What I do is try to think of why it happened. Even if it may not be true a little thought, a little "maybe this is why" could put things in a different perspective other than that previous one of focusing on yourself. Sometimes getting the overall view can help get you back on focus. And I don't mean "the universe is against me" aspect, or "its all my fault, I can never do anything right" aspect, or "its all their fault" aspect. I try (I know its not really possible to do this in the slightest) to look at it from God's perspective. Why would God be allowing this?
My favorite is to immediately assume that I was doing good. I was following God and satan saw it. And it displeased him so he came after me! In this way it was not really my fault! And for some this may be true. However, more often than not, its my own fault either directly, or indirectly.
Then I try to remember: There is a reason for everything. God doesn't just allow things to happen for no reason. You know those nice smooth rocks you can find at the edge of a river, or lake, or in the ocean? The rocks came to be that way because they were battered, and scraped, and ground against other rocks, and sand, and rough elements.Those little stones went through a lot. Do you think they looked on those other particles that rubbed up against them with contempt? "He just chipped a piece of me off!", "She rubs me the wrong way!", "Everything about so-and-so is always scratchy and irritable!" But look how they came out. Their colors are more vibrant and visible on their smooth, glistening surfaces...they're beautiful and they're strong. And they will be able to weather more. And they will be able to help the other rocks that haven't gone through the processes yet. "You may not like the sand, dear, but look what it can do for you!"
If the rock is not strong, but brittle, or rigid, the elements will break it down. It will become sand and rub up against the other rocks, irritating those around it. Becoming the problem that itself had hated.
And if God does all of this just to turn a coarse rock into a smooth stone imagine what kind of detail and care He puts into our lives just to see us come out all agleam and smooth! God would never allow something to happen to us that we could not come through. Even the sand he can turn into a pearl. And even the hardest of substances He can make into a diamond.