Yesterday, I had the pleasure of watching the Ross baseball team, and my two grand-nephews who are on the team, win the district baseball championship.
On Thursday, I was present at the Ross High School graduation to see one of my grand-nephews, a grand niece, Noah Meyers, and several other young adults graduate and experience one of those pinnacle moments life has sprinkled throughout it. Pinnacle moments help to define a lifetime.
Unfortunately, life also includes moments that are quite the opposite. However, those too help to define a lifetime!
The Rams were down at one point 5-0 and victory was not certain for sure, it was definitely not a pinnacle moment!
Each of the graduates on Thursday could provide several examples of uncertainty with grades, social interactions, or some other non-pinnacle and challenging moments in their high school career. For some graduation was not certain.
What pinnacle moments and negative moments have defined you? What has shaped you as you sit here at this point in your life? Could you write your "definition" using examples of both good and bad?
According to dictionary.com, to "define" means to set forth the meaning of, or to explain or identify the essential qualities of. Pinnacle moments obviously shape us in a way to do this but so do the opposite moments like when we face trials and rejection.
As I planned my focus for today, I was thinking of all of the things we experience that define us as individuals, both good and bad.
Without the "bad," the "good" would have a different meaning and be lessened to "normal."
God provides us with both pinnacles and pits. He is there beside us for both. Building faith takes a lifetime and He is our teacher.
He wants us to be happy and God provides, “And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.”
Paul tells us this in 2 Corinth. 9:8
But God also allows us to experience trials as well like Paul also states in Romans 5:3, “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.”
As we shape our lives we can accept trial and grow from it or we can reject trial as "punishment" or "bad luck" and fail to get anything from the experience.
This choice is, as is everything else we do in life, part of what eventually defines us both in life and in faith.
As Christians we proclaim to be followers of Christianity and its teachings. We are presented with the challenge to accept everything in faith and to have or show the qualities associated with Christians, especially those of decency, kindness, and fairness.
If we accept only the pinnacle moments of life with faith and happiness but we reject the trials, without faith, do we really grow these Christian qualities that we proclaim? I catch myself from time to time getting down about things not going as I would have liked them to have gone and not showing the faith I need to grow, I miss an opportunity!
Life is like that ballgame I watched yesterday or like all of the things we experienced in high school, it all matters and it all builds our faith if we let it! The good becomes better and the seemingly impossible trials become easier.
1 Corinthians 10:31
“So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
Matthew 19:26 “Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.”
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