Romans 5:3,4 “We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”
19th century British naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace was second only to Charles Darwin in contributions to his field. One of his most astute observations concerned the saving nature of struggle. He stumbled across it as he watched moths struggling to hatch out from their cocoons. One particular moth was having a hard time getting out because of its under-developed wings, so Wallace thought he’d help speed up the process. He took his pen-knife and made a tiny incision in the cocoon to facilitate the moth’s exit. But he soon came to regret the intervention. The moth hadn’t needed his help. The process of straining and stretching to get out unaided was an integral part of the strengthening of the moth’s wings. The aborted process meant the moth wasn’t equipped to last long. It did beat its wings, folding and unfolding them, but Wallace observed it had less colour, strength and vitality than the other moths. Over the course of its brief life span the ‘helped out’ moth flew poorly, fed inefficiently, and ultimately died long before it should have.
No doubt, like me, there’ve been times when you’ve asked God to short-circuit the painful ordeal you’ve been going through. Hopefully, again like me, you can look back in gratitude on at least some of those instances and see that what came out of the struggling could not have been gained any other way.
These lines from the old folk song capture it well:
‘Is the rain falling from the sky keeping you from singing? Is that tear falling from your eye because the wind is stinging?
Don’t you know the seed could never grow if there weren’t any showers? Though the rain might bring a little pain, just look at all the flowers.
Don’t you fret now child, don’t you worry. The rain’s to help you grow, so don’t try to hurry the storm along. The hard times make you strong.’
Lord, today I choose to embrace rather than avoid… Amen!
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