Tough And Good

Tough but good…its strange how much those tend to coincide. The other day I found myself once again describing a particular situation to someone with those words and I realized that many times in the last year I’ve done so. When Rylee slipped down a flight of stairs-giving us a really good scare and bruising her rear in the process it was quite tough but good. It was tough for all the obvious aforementioned reasons but it was good because it forced us to inch yet again closer to one another and our God. When I was sick for three weeks at a time in Peru-wondering what on earth had come over me and losing thirteen pounds in the process this too was indeed tough but good. It was tough because we felt that we had traveled all that way for a purpose to serve and take action but it was good because we learned the invaluable lesson that in life our plans are not our own. I could go on recounting at least ten to fifteen other times in the recent past where I admittedly answered, ‘it was tough…tough but good.’ The truth is that every person, in retrospect, has the option whether or not to stop at, ‘it was tough.’ and leave it there as if every challenge in life is without consequence. Because most of us who have had just the littlest taste of reality know that no growth is without implication, no life change is without repercussion and no degree of maturation is without cost to our self. And I’m not entirely convinced that only those of us with a belief in the divine will concede that this is true. No, in fact, I am certain that this experience is more of an axiom-a very transcendent and profound aphorism or truism that is futile to fight for any person.

So what are we to do with this rather exceptional reality? Are we to embrace the tough? The challenge? The change? The stretching, pulling, prodding? I don’t know if I quite know how to ‘embrace’ it all but I can say that I will always, albeit reluctantly, pursue the possible outcome of said ‘toughness’ because I know, from experience, what awaits me on the other side . . . it won’t always be a triumph, at least it is never guaranteed to be immediately, but it will be some bit of growth. To put it in a frank theological expression: this is the precise essence of sanctification by means of constant conversion. So many beautiful dimensions of the word, ‘conversion:’ to turn, to change, to become renewed, to move from one form to another… tough but good; the definitions are so full of potential. Sanctification, meaning the time that we are given here on earth to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds,” “to be conformed by the likeness of his Son”, is a process and we don’t know how long we’re given. This is what is so profound about when the protagonist in a movie finds that he allegedly only has 6 months to live and you can see the immediate conversion of his countenance, his spirit, his vitality, his heart, mind, body and soul. So what is it that we all love to see that newfound take on life? I think we love this formulaic story because we love to see the look on the guy’s face-like everything is so new and fresh and he isn’t going to loose another second before he lives. his. life. And living that life means looking beyond the 12 inches in front of our faces in order that we might discover there is sense to be made of this tough, tough moment.