experience

 

 

 

well my dear ones,

 

 

I remember when I first started out

looking for jobs,

I found it extremely frustrating

that whenever I saw a really cool ad,

there would be that caveat,

“experience required.”

 

I mean, how I am supposed to get experience

if no one will give me a shot?

 

But the kind of experience I’m talking about

is not necessarily job experience

(although it could have some aspects of that);

I’m talking about life experience,

and especially the tougher experiences,

the ones where, while you are in them,

you find yourself asking,

“God, why does this have to be so hard?

 Why do I have to suffer through this?”

 

Just this past week,

I found myself leafing through my

‘catalog of life experience’

in order to give a friend some perspective

on some tough times through which she’s going.

 

She told me,

“It seems you have been where I am

 and navigated your way out...,”

hence, she decided to follow

the path I suggested for her.

(i.e. it worked for me,

 so she could see it might for her, too =>)

 

That’s when I realized that

the stuff I’d told her about

happened over 25 years ago!

 

And there is NO WAY at the time it

happened that I could have EVER

foreseen a way out

or foreseen that what I went through,

and how I got out of it, would be

of any benefit to someone in the future.

 

And that reminds me that

even those you least expect to

can sometimes speak a word of truth.

A case in point is this quote:

“That which does not kill us

 makes us stronger.”

 --- Friedrich Nietzsche

 

While not much else of what old Friedrich said

is of any more value to me than

a pile of old cat litter *lol*

(I had to study this guy in college;

 and we learned that one young man

 actually committed suicide

 after reading his works;

 instead of learning truth

 and speaking hope to people,

 he chose the opposite;

 hence, I advocate studying

 nothing else

 of anything he said

 save for this one quote)

that quote I do like

and I find it has much merit.

 

All of us have suffered through

some tough experiences.

Yet not only did they make us stronger,

they also have much usefulness

for the future teaching

of those God will put in our path.

 

*shrugs*

At least that’s how I see it.

So, store up all your experiences,

the good and the bad,

and keep them in your

‘catalog of life experience.’

 

Somewhere in the future,

someone will be looking up to you,

looking to you for answers,

and you won’t want to let them down.

In their dark days,

the fact that you had dark days,

yet got beyond them,

is the thing that will give them hope.

 

And hope is something we all need...always!

 

 

Have a great week! =)

 

grace, peace, and love to you,

dave