Imagine your life as a cylinder, a perfectly round deep tube with a shiny metal floor and walls. You are stuck at the bottom and all you want to do is climb to the top. You try to claw your way to the top, but the walls are too slick to grab onto. You try to climb to the top, but it seems impossible. To make matters worse, all sorts of problems and obstacles begin to be thrown at you. It seems like a rain shower of problems. The problems and trials take on the image of sharp metal objects. You are afraid to touch them because you believe they will harm you. So, you do the safe thing. You stay at the bottom of that cylinder and let the problems and trials of life rain down on you.

Pretty soon, the problems and trials are stacked to the top of that cylinder. Then a thought comes to you and you realize that the walls of that cylinder are not smooth anymore. There are plenty of things to grab onto now and you begin to climb using the problems and trials as your footing. Sure your hands get cut and you are injured while grabbing onto those problems and trials, but pretty soon you realize that you are getting closer and closer to the top. You continue to use the problems and trials to climb to the top and before you are know it, you are out of the cylinder, free at last from the captivity.

In a lot of ways, life is like that cylinder. We all want to climb to the top, but it seems impossible, especially while there are problems being thrown down on us. It is human nature to want to avoid being hurt, so we do nothing. We sit there and blame God for our problems. We say things like, “How could you do this to me? I thought you were supposed to be a loving God.” or “Have you totally forsaken me?” It is easy to think that when things are bad in our lives. We do often think that God has forgotten us, but if we would only realize that we can use the problems being put in our path to climb our way out. I am not saying that God purposely throws problems our way, but He has given us the ability to use those problems to climb out. We just have to face them and accept that we may be hurt along the way, but each time we are hurt we become a little stronger and can endure the pain a little more.

We have to learn to use our problems to become stronger and to climb our way out. We do this by truly learning to lean on God and relying on his guidance. Every problem or trial placed in our way can strengthen us, build our faith, bring us closer to the people we love, and draw closer to God. When we do finally climb to the top, we are filled with such peace and are better people for having gone through those experiences.

So the next time you feel like problems and trials are being thrown at you and trust me, it will happen from time to time, use those problems and trials to build your strength and begin to climb out. The worst thing any of us can do is take up residence at the bottom of that cylinder and become bitter and dissatisfied with life. Peace and happiness is ours for the taking. All we have to do is grab on and climb up to it, and God will be there to give us the strength and courage to do just that, and He will restore peace back into our lives, and as we all know, PEACE MATTERS!

~Dan~