Every day throws challenges at us.

One simple idea has helped me get perspective on some of the trials I’ve been facing – and processing the trials that friends have been facing:

Pain is normal.

Our culture tells us the opposite, all the time. Whenever we watch a movie, all the problems are solved in about two hours. For a TV show, it takes even less time to reach resolution.

We are told:

• Spending money will fix almost any problem.
• If we just had a new car, we’d be spared the headaches of getting it fixed – at least for a little while.
• If we just had a little more money, we wouldn’t have to worry.
• Trusting in medical science will cure our aches and pains.
• If I just had a week on the beach, I’d feel so much better.
• If my kid didn’t have that problem, it would be so much easier.

But if you look at the Bible, every person who was right in God’s eyes didn’t have a pain-free life. In fact, many had a lot of pain. Take David… he hid in caves to keep from getting murdered (1 Samuel 24 – particularly in verse 11).

I realize that the experience of pain is vastly different from person to person. (I think I’ve been on the receiving end of pain far less than many people I know.) But we all have to deal with pain every day. (See Genesis 3:17-19. I don’t think God was referring only to Adam when he said that.)

The sooner I accept the fact that pain is just part of life, the sooner I will stop trying to make it go away. If I go through it, I will learn a lot in that journey. And be able to help others facing similar pain.

Paul Merrill writes here every first Friday.