Sometimes life just isn’t very fair.
As I cut the cake, the boys yelled, “Hey, my piece is smaller, NO FAIR.”
The comment that came next was determined by the kind of day I was having. If it was a good day, and I felt charitable, it would go something like, “I’m sorry your piece is smaller, next time we will make sure you get to choose the piece you want.” Or if it wasn’t such a good day, it was “Sorry, sometimes stuff happens and you have to deal with it. It’s just one of those days.”
My grandmother was big into this credo. She would often say, “Some people will always have more than you, some less…you have to be willing to be happy with what you have.” Taken from a woman who knew. She left her home after she married, merely a young teenager in 1919 seeking opportunity and adventure in the big city. Just a few years later she found the story wasn’t so rosy. Jobs were hard to come by. The number of mouths to feed kept growing to stretch the modest paycheck. After the crash in 1929, some didn’t handle the adversity so well. The men waited in line at the aid society, to apply for jobs that didn’t exist and for food in the bread lines. Some of the husbands hopped trains to look for work, never to be seen again. Some of the women didn’t handle the adversity much better either. Unable to stretch a budget, some took to drinking, left their babies on the steps of the orphanage or just plain gave up and grew old before their time. Hope and promise along with heartache and tragedy.
Through it all, my grandmother and grandfather kept their wits about them and soldiered on. My grandfather never missed a day of work during the entire Depression. When laid off from a job, he would inquire and work for free until the foreman could pay him. Once the company could hire another worker, he was first in line as he had worked for the company for free for a few weeks. My grandmother took in sewing and laundry to make ends meet to feed their 10 children. They worked hard, complained little, and kept their focus on the future and what mattered, which was Higher Ground
When I think of both of them today I am reminded of people of integrity. They were honest, did what they said they were going to do, and accepted responsibility when something went wrong.
Sometimes life just isn’t very fair.
It is no fun to be on the wrong side of office politics at work.
How is it the guy down the street fudges on his taxes every year and gets by with it, while I’m slaving to find my receipts to prove my deductions?
That young dad at church, the one with the beautiful wife and kids, ran off with his secretary.
The sickly disorganized parent that left behind a mess and a load of debt.
The baby with cancer.
The kid was bullied at school.
What is fair about any of these? Not much. Some days it might be just a flat tire after hitting a huge pothole on the highway. Or that slice of cake that is a bit small.
Other days we must look harder…even if we find not a shred of silver lining in a terrible storm. We know one thing. God is God and we are not. Sometimes we just do not know why things happen…and it is not our job to ask. It is our job to obey and believe, even if the present doesn’t make much sense.
Proverbs 14:26 says “Those who fear the Lord are secure, he will be a refuge for their children. Fear of the Lord is a life-giving fountain; it offered escape from the snares of death.
My grandparents knew that faith mattered; They clung to this day-to-day to survive. It is true that they went through some hard times, and hard years…getting evicted, losing jobs, scraping for food, avoiding bad influence on their family. They chose to focus on what mattered; faith, family, and their belief in the American dream they could have a better life if they reached out to grab it. They scrimped and saved and got by. Their children grew and flourished under their love and guidance and their family grew.
They chose to take the Higher Ground. They left the anger, bitterness, and resentment at the door and kept calm and carried on.
May we do the same?