LIFE IS HARD

When my firstborn, Emily, was about 4 years old, her Sunday School teacher came up to me after church one Sunday and said to me, "Sarah, Emily says 'Life is hard.' I immediately felt a number of emotions; horror, shock, dismay and embarrassment that my daughter would say that to her teacher and maybe put questions in the teacher's mind as to 'what on earth goes on in the Martin household to create this disturbing thought in this little girl's mind?' I, of course, expressed concern to the teacher, a young college student, who our family had 'adopted' as ours during our ministry there. And, knowing me, I probably even made some wisecracks or "Sarah-castic" remarks, just to throw her mind off course and not let her dwell on what my little girl had said to her.

Later, after lunch that afternoon, my girls were playing between the kitchen, dining area and living room, and Katie, a little over a year old, stumbled while walking, and bumped her head on something. She began to whimper, and I screwed up my face to make it look funny (and hopefully make her laugh) and I said, "Oh, poor baby......life is hard!" Then it hit me; Of course, Emily is going to tell her teacher that life is hard, because that's what she constantly hears her mama say! It was most often in jest, nevertheless, it was one of my common remarks.

Another phrase I used quite frequently back then was "good night!" If I was amazed, confused, shocked or perplexed, I would say "good night". Funny thing about that is this -- my good friend, Cindy, had a phrase she used quite frequently, too, and it was this, "Great day!" It hit my funny bone awfully hard one time when she and I were talking in her kitchen, and interspersed in our conversation with each other was "Good night!" and "Great day!".

Looking back over my life I can honestly say life has been hard. There have been a lot of rough patches in the road, wounds in need of healing, burdens to bear. Do I think my life has been different from anyone else's? No, not really. I'm sure there are many who have faced hard spots in life much tougher than the ones I've had. The cool thing (another phrase from the past) about it all is this: No matter how many times the thought comes to my mind that 'life is hard' -- it's followed up with this thought -- but God is good. And He is! God IS good -- all the time!