A few weeks ago I sat in a chair in our cafeteria at school surrounded by my peers and we looked at a reading from Saint Paul.

Now this reading really spoke to me for a lot of reasons. It was due in part, to what we were talking about as a staff and also, in part because of what I was thinking about personally.

The part that struck me the most was this…Saint Paul said:

“suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.” (Romans 5: 3-5)

Wow. Later that day we had adoration and I couldn’t stop thinking about that and how true I feel it is, not only for my own life, but how really, anyone could apply it to their life as well.

It has been my experience that the things in my own life that have been the hardest have taught me the most important lessons and have made me stronger. I have found that to be true for others I know the best, like my mom.

The suffering I’ve experienced has produced my endurance to withstand hardships and given me my pick yourself off, dust yourself off mentality.

Sure, when I was in those moments I felt doubt and anger, pain and disappointment. However, whether or not I knew at all times, I did feel there was always hope and of course that old saying from my mom was constantly echoing in my head saying “this too shall pass.”

It always does pass, eventually.

That’s not to say though, that it doesn’t leave its mark! But…I’d argue that the mark left behind isn’t always bad.

In today’s society, we allow ourselves to spare our children as much pain and suffering as possible. I’ll even admit to trying to do that at times as well. BUT…my time as a teacher, coach and parent have taught me how important it is to let our kids fail, take chances and yes, even sometimes get hurt (emotionally, of course).

Point blank…failure sucks. But…failure also motivates. I can think of countless times in my own life where a failure eventually led to enormous success because that failure motivated me!

Pain is terrible, but it also teaches us lessons about what we should or should not do or what we do or do not need. I’ve also experienced pain, both physical and emotional pain and I can honestly say that both experiences have enhanced my character. A lot of who I am as a person and my core values are rooted in things that I have either seen or personally experienced at the hands of others. For example, I learned what kind of coach I didn’t want to be from the coaches that left an ugly mark and I learned what kind of coach I wanted to be from the coaches I had that were their very best.

Also, in regards to pain…I can say that pain I have endured in my life has helped others. I share my stories with my staff, friends and students at my school and I know that my life experiences have helped others overcome their struggles as well. So, our own pain, can in many ways, help others overcome theirs and to me, that is pretty special.

Taking chances can be scary and it doesn’t always work out, but sometimes, it does. Even when taking a chance doesn’t go our way we can learn valuable lessons. I’ve taken a lot of chances, including writing this blog and sharing my thoughts with all kinds of people who could use my words or feelings against me. But I do it anyways because I love to write and it’s a huge release for me and I’ve learned…I need it. I guess at the end of the day I feel like some chances are worth taking.

Now, I won’t deny that I still have a lot to learn, but, I will never stop learning, taking chances, loving hard and hoping…and I know in all of this, I will probably fail sometimes. I will also probably feel pain, but if I have learned anything in my life…I know it is always better to love hard, try hard and take chances. So I will never stop doing any of these things.

Ever.

I hope that in this time of great uncertainty that we are all living in we will remember Saint Paul’s words:

“suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.” (Romans 5: 3-5)

And we know that any suffering we may endure in life will eventually bring us endurance, character and hope, but also, ultimately, bring us closer to Christ and to Heaven. To quote Stephen King and Andy Dufrene from one of the greatest movies ever made…”Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things…and no good thing ever dies!”

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