Handling Pain

It's a Hindu parable. Mark Nepo uses it some.

I like it. It's appropriate and the Bible, in my opinion teaches the same thing.

I've heard people say, "life is 10% circumstances and 90% how you deal with those circumstances". My opinion is that people who get those numbers backwards are wallowing in their own miserable muck. I've also heard people say, "your problem is not your problem, your attitude towards your problem is your problem".

I was just studying the fruit of the Spirit this morning and after reading the Bible, I found this quote on the internet about that fruit by Wesley L. Gerig.

Much of the fruit of the Spirit deals with what your quote is talking about - viewing life and its troubles through the lens of patience, self-control, gentleness, peace, joy, love and more.

The Bible says, in what I was reading this morning, that this fruit is a "by-product" of being joined with Christ. (John 15:3-5) Jesus says that we will bear much fruit if we remain in Him as our "vine". And it's hard. We war against the flesh Paul says. As Gerig says, "No one drifts into spiritual maturity".


But even thought it's sometimes hard, Jesus told us this about bearing fruit by remaining in Him so that "our joy could be complete".

I like the idea of viewing the big picture (being the lake).