These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.
John 16:33
I knew a family that seemed to have it all. He was a successful lawyer, she a talented photographer. He had just made partner in a large firm, she had started her own business and it was going great. They had just moved into this big beautiful house tucked away in the woods. It was top notch technology in this house complete with the fanciest coffee maker I had ever seen. Their lives seemed utterly devoid of tribulation.
I pictured them on a quiet morning drinking their coffee from their fancy coffee maker and sitting on their flower-covered porch as the sun broke through the trees and filtered down onto the house. “How great their lives must be,” I thought. Imagine having such a beautiful, quiet start to your day!
I dream of having quiet mornings where I make my coffee and drink it on my back porch as I watch the sun crest over the distant hills. Of course I only get to do this sporadically–weekends, and the occasional work day that starts a little later than normal. But to do it every day? Heavenly!
Anyway, I Idealized their life in their beautiful house, choosing to see only that which I wanted to see in their lives. I would think of the picturesque setting and think how nice it must be to have a life like that. Then, as I got to know them better, I found out about the less beautiful side of their lives. About her health issues and all the complications they created. About the struggles they endured behind their smiles. And I realized I wouldn’t want to trade places as I once thought I would.
How often do we do this? Envying the part of someone’s life that we see while ignoring or not acknowledging the rest. We want to pick and choose the good, ignore the bad, and imagine that other people really do have the dream life that we always wanted. But it doesn’t exist–no one has the dream life.
The perfect life does not exist here on earth; we don’t know what people are hiding behind their smiles. We cannot envy the good in someone’s life and think that they don’t have struggles too.
We all have struggles in this life–Jesus told us we would! But He told us something else too. He told us that He has overcome the world. Did you catch that? He has overcome the world–the whole world, and all the troubles it contains. He has overcome the pain of loss, the discouragement of medical troubles, the hurt of betrayal. He has overcome it all–and through Him so can we.
For more reading, Click Here For Previous Sunday Scriptures!