All the things . . .

 Romans 5:3-4 CEB

But not only that! We even take pride in our problems, because we know that trouble produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope.

Sometimes when I read this particular verse I think of the people of whom we might say, “She’s only happy when she has something to complain about.”. I’m pretty sure this is not the sort of response to problems that Paul is referring to.  Rather, he was talking about the ones who face down problems daily and just kept going - problems like poverty, racism, lack of health insurance, chronic illness, underemployment.  In pandemic time they add things like having to figure out how to get their kids educated without access to the internet while they themselves need to get to work every day so they all have a place to live.   Paul was talking about the folks who just keep doing the best they know how, whom every one in the community looks up to, who welcomes everyone and is willing to share what little they have with others who have less.  These are people of great character - and we all know some of them.  You can recognize them by the glow that seems to surround them, the glow of hope and faith, the knowledge that no matter what, everything is going to be alright.

I don’t have much in the way of problems in my life today.  Mine are more like first world person with privilege problems.  But even those can seem pretty overwhelming at times.  Sometimes I wonder how I am going to get through.  I’m being pulled in a half dozen directions. It’s not just that there is too much on my plate. It’s like I am sitting in front of a giant Thanksgiving Dinner that I have to eat all by myself.  Maybe trouble produces endurance, but when there are so many things in front of me, where do I even start?

At times like that I have to remind myself of the age old question “How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.” And the other one, “Where should I start?   At the beginning.” It’s not always clear where the beginning is, but if I take a moment to settle myself I can usually find a starting point.  Whether it is a multitude of writing deadlines, or cleaning out the closets, once I get started all I have to do is keep going, doing one thing at a time, until I get finished.  

God of all the things, I know that with you any thing is possible, but sometimes there are just so many things to be done.  Help me to remember that I only need to do the next indicated thing, one thing at a time, until I have finished all the things.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.