Things
Work Out
“Because
it rains when we wish it wouldn't.
Because
men do what they often shouldn't.
Because
crops fail, and plans go wrong--
Some
of us grumble all day long.
But
somehow, in spite of the care and doubt,
It
seems, at last, that things work out...”
Edgar
A. Guest (Things Work Out; First verse)
We
humans expect life to go always in a positive direction—onward and
upward, the sky is the limit, never say die! But sometimes, in spite
of our best efforts, things go terribly wrong. Plans are ditched,
relationships run aground, our love finds a new love, our company is
bought out, our family grows apart, we get an unexpected diagnosis.
Life makes a U-turn, and suddenly we're headed where we never
intended to go.
I
don't know about you, but when things go wrong in my life, I whine
and grumble. I lament the unfairness of it all, and say things like,
“I can't take it any more!” “Why is this happening to me?”
“There is no justice!” If someone were to ask me if I think the
universe is aligned against me at that moment, I'd say, “Yes...yes, I do!”
But when I get a little distance from the misfortune, and am able to
regain my composure, I realize that this, too, is part of life. Why
not me? Why not now? How I respond to the situation can exacerbate
the problem or help to make it better.
I
wonder why we feel that the circumstances of life should ever and
always go in one direction? Is there not day and night, winter and
summer? Is it so hard to understand that there is ebb and flow to all of
life. Sometimes we're up, sometimes we're down, and sometimes, we're
just coasting. It's okay.
“So
bend to your trouble and meet your care,
For
the clouds must part, and the sky grow fair.
Let
the rain come down as it must and will,
But
keep on working and hoping still.
For
in spite of the grumblers who stand about,
Somehow,
it seems, all things work out.” (Guest; Final verse)
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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