Do you find yourself in a difficult situation? Are you in financial trouble? Are you filled with apprehension about life?
There are events, incidents and circumstances of life over which we have no control. We may succeed in running away from unpleasant experiences for a while but we can never avoid difficult situations all the time for they are essential to our growth.
So, what can we do when unpleasant things happen to us?
It is only when we are unwilling to meet a difficulty or are afraid to face it that it gets the better of us. The one practical way to meet a difficult situation is to look it in the face with courage and determination, and with the prayer "So help me, God!" When, trusting in God, we go forward to meet it, as we would meet a friend, the impossible happens. What was thought to be a trial is seen to be a blessing in disguise.
Meet every difficulty bravely. Do not try to avoid it. Difficulties are gifts that God sends us for the enrichment of our interior life. He is the lord of compassion and His works are ever the works of mercy. If only we trust Him and surrender ourselves to Him, asking Him to lead us wherever He will, fearing nothing, avoiding nothing, but rejoicing in all that He sends us, no harm can ever happen to us. Then, through every circumstance and situation in life will flow to us the love, the joy and the peace of God.
A friend of mine lost an eye in an accident. Several friends visited him in the hospital. They found him cheerful as ever in the face of a great and irreparable loss. When they expressed surprise, he said, "I thank God that one eye still remains. I can see with it as well as I did when I had two eyes. The accident could easily have robbed me of both my eyes, but God chose to protect one of them. Blessed be His Name!" The accident, which would have plunged another man into depths of darkness, did not seem to touch him.
We must always find some reason or the other for which to feel thankful of God. If there is one thing that God loves, it is a humble, thankful heart. Even in the darkest hours of life, if only we turn around, we shall not fail to find something for which we should feel thankful to God.
Dada J.P. Vaswani is the spiritual leader of the Sadhu Vaswani Mission, a non-sectarian, non-profit organization which believes in the unity of all religions and reveres the Great Ones of all faiths. Headquartered in Pune, India, the Mission is respected for its commitment to widespread philanthropic and educational activities. A philosopher, humanitarian and teacher, Dada J.P. Vaswani is a modern day saint who has transformed the lives of millions with his simple but profound analysis of the human condition in this modern age.