If we were to never go through adversity in this life, we’d be weak, selfish, entitled, lazy, and arrogant. It’s natural to want to complain about the challenges we face, but we need them to grow. A better way of regarding scary times is to face them head-on with bravery instead of cowering in fear.
Look around you and it’s not difficult to see why so many feel like everything’s falling apart in the world. There are wars, rumors of wars, natural disasters all over, heinous violent crimes, abuse, neglect, disagreements which end in violence, hatred boiling over, rioting, prognostications of impending doom, etc. One might even say all things are in commotion in these modern times.
Some believe all of our problems can and will be solved through technology. But AI, robotics, space exploration, and other advancements won’t solve the basest societal or personal issues just as indoor plumbing, the automobile, or the assembly line didn’t. Suffering is an integral part of the human experience.
I’m grateful for the suffering I’ve endured, not that I’m going to seek out more. The bad times have taught me more than the good because I’ve had to learn how to deal with overwhelming problems. As a wise man once told me, we’re all in a gym and it’s time to lift, not just sit and sip water.
This brings me to the tale of the buffalo and the cattle. When a storm comes rolling through the American West where there isn’t much to break up the vicious winds and biting rain, the buffalo turn and not only face the storm, they charge towards it. That might sound idiotic since our natural tendency is to hunker down in a shelter. What the buffalo accomplish through this is they actually run through the storm and out the other side of it, leaving the chaos sooner.
Being brave and facing your problems instead of avoiding them, which can include ignoring them, is a better way of living.
Cattle, on the other hand, are deathly afraid of storms. When they come rolling through the landscape, the cattle run in the opposite direction in a futile attempt to get away from the chaos. As a result, they end up running with the storm and are in it for much longer, suffering more than if they had just squared up to it and charged into the mess.
By trying to wiggle our way out of our problems, we can actually prolong and even increase our suffering. So many people do this, then claim victimhood, attributing their situation to someone else’s behavior.
In life, it pays to be a buffalo. Even when things are scary and you have no idea how you’re going to handle them, face the reality of your situation with bravery. At first you might be completely overwhelmed and have zero skill for a resolution. But as you press forward and turn to God, you can become stronger, growing in ways you never would had you run from the storm.
