The great equaliser

I recently read an article, which argued that a lack of positive factors in our lives is worse for us than the presence of negative factors. 

The reality for almost everyone on the planet is a fair share of negatives - such is life. We all bear the brunt of illness or financial misfortune or marital blues or family issues ... the list goes on and on. Yet none of that matters, as long as there is real hope or at least something that gives life a sense of value and meaning.

My wife and I noted that our children have had many advantages in the form of a loving home, caring parents, sound instruction and substantial support. Yet for all that they have the disadvantage of having never had to really fight for their survival as children from embattled or negative homes do.

My son has a friend who had appalling contradictions thrown at him by his father, yet that just strengthened the boy's resolve and inspired him to rise above the squalor of life to become something - and thus he excelled, at everything. He turned his negatives to his advantage and rose above otherwise advantaged boys like my own.

Life is a great equaliser. We are all the product of a basket-full of random variables, including birth order, gender, physical disposition, health, intelligence, the home we are brought up in, cultural influences and so on. Each basket presents a set of positives and negatives, all of which define our uniqueness. It really does not matter how advantaged we are in our formative years, the fact remains that we have to play the cards we are dealt and find the positive factors in our lives that can define us and lift us above the background.

To me the greatest positive, and it outweighs all other negatives, is our capacity for faith. God placed a hunger in every one of us and when that hunger finds the wellspring of life, we gain an anchor for our souls, a reason for living that transcends whatever life throws at us.  For that same reason, a centurion in Nero's guard once converted to the faith because he obseved that the beauty of faith in God is that it actually thrives and prospers in the face of great adversity.

Right now the world stands at the edge of one of the darkest phases of human history - hope, for many will die, removing the only counterpoint to the timeless reality of a hard life. For many, their candles are already flickering and fading, having been consumed by life. But others, who have kept the faith and still fear God, will light up the darkness and prevail when all else fails, because where sin abounds, grace much more - and thus the disadvantages of many, will become the finest moment of others.   

(c) Peter Eleazar @ www.4u2live.net