It was late and after a full day involving our secondary, NC wedding reception, we were thoroughly looking forward to crashing. Most of our stuff was already packed squarely away in the car, so all we really had to do was throw in the remaining bits and head off to our first apartment! We flopped in the car and off we go!!!
But that's the tragedy of life. When you tell yourself, 'off we go!', life often says, 'you're an idiot'.
And after rolling out 2 feet in reverse, we stopped the car, jumped out, and I marveled yet a second time that evening... as to how a tire could be so, so flat.
It was like... a black, squished marshmallow. That had been squished a lot.
And so there we were, standing in the snow and freezing wind... and I mulled over the fact that I was a moron for wearing a thin, sleeveless shirt and short athletic shorts with athletic slides while it was snowing.
Oh, and that Burton had a flat, flat tire and I just wanted to go home.
But why am I telling you all this?
I'm taking the liberty to write a little bit outside of my permitter today, yet I believe this applies especially to relationships, so the concept is still within romantic boundaries.
Adversity. You know it when you taste it, because it tastes like dirt. Or moss. The kind you might find at a crafting store to put into those little potted plants with the styrofoam and fake twiggies.
Adversity. It shows our true colors, they tell us. Because let's face it, when the going gets tough, people turn into little crabs. Nasty, little crabs.
In marriage and relationships, adversity is a potential plague. It's a mold that would love to rot out nice big chucks of your happiness... yet at the same time, it can do the exact opposite if you let it. Shall I explain? I think I will. Back to the squished tire.
I was a little panicked, but not too bad. Mostly I was exhausted and freezing and exhausted, which can make ANYTHING seem way worse that it is. And freezing. I did I mention I was freezing? Which meant all of this was dandy, but after being awake 17 hours in a car the day before, I wasn't feeling up to adventure. I would much rather have cried. Still, as I looked at that flat tire, God reminded me of something better to focus on.
"At least this didn't happen yesterday when we were in Pennsylvania or something, right?"
As I said it, I realized this was very true. All in all, things were okay. I was cold, I was tired, and I had to help move ALL our jam packed stuff out of Burton and into Jacob's van so Jacob and I could finally leave (which took a good bit of time and courage against the cold!), but we were safe, we had another drivable vehicle, we had a home to go to, and we had each other.
I apologize for using a flat tire as my analogy, but heck, it was bummin' at first sight with that flat tire. I felt like I was so close to having sealed up our NH to NC adventure so very nicely, and the BAM. Bump in the road (or flat in the tire).
Adversity can kill our motivation, our optimism, our gratefulness, our love, our passion, our desire to achieve great things, our hope, our faith, our patience, our character... or it can build them up stronger than ever before.
In the end, be it family, work, relationships, marriage, or just life in whole, adversity teaches us two things: to believe in faith and to smile with courage. All struggles will pass. A new one may take it's place as soon as the old one fades, true. Broken heaters, no job, death in the family, terminal illness, a parasite within your marriage, family feuds that won't go away, Murphy's Law being... well, Murphy's Law, junked cars, losing your friends, even silly little things like math tests, bad traffic, and head colds.
In your world, will you be a rock of optimism, faith, and trust?
The glory of adversity is not in praising ourselves when the storm has passed. It is in the prayers that God will be brought glory through our struggles- that in the end, our adversity may be someone else's banner to hold when they struggle the same as we did.
Life is hard, God is good. Things in the world are very, very ugly.
"But take heart! I have overcome the world."
John 16:33
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