I Need To Accept Things I Do Not Like.

We must learn to accept things we do not like.

Imagine someone who took traffic lights personally or long lines at the grocery store. We would judge them out of the room.

Yet, this is exactly what life does.

• A road is blocked or obstructed.
• Reroutes and U-turns are inevitable.
• Inconvenient detours make things take longer.
• Stops and yields riddled in our path.

You can’t yell or sulk these problems away.

They exist. They are there.

• A test failed.
• A dream shattered.
• A marriage broken.
• A faith waning.
• A mind scattered.
• A life unsettled.

That is not to say that these potholes and setbacks prevent us from reaching our ultimate destination. Our route changes, but our destination does not.

Abraham Lincoln was a man who failed in business at the age of 21; was defeated in a legislative race at age 22; failed again in business at age 24; overcame the death of his sweetheart at age 26; had a nervous breakdown at age 27; lost a congressional race at age 34; lost a senatorial race at age 45; failed in an effort to become vice-president at age 47; lost a senatorial race at age 49; and was elected president of the United States at age 52.

You don’t have to like something to accept it. Lincoln developed an inner fortress over years of setbacks and failures that girded him.

Many of us are too greedy to do that ourselves.

We instinctively think about how much better we’d like any given situation to be and lose sight of accepting whatever is in front of us.

God has given us now. He has not given us tomorrow.

God has given us this situation. He has not given us our desired outcome.

We can squirm and complain, but it won’t change what we ultimately need to do: appreciate what we have and push forward.

The way life is right now has plenty to work with, plenty to change for the better, and plenty to set right.

God may not deliver you from the situation, but he will be with you through it. His promise is that you will not be overwhelmed or consumed.

When you pass through the waters,

I will be with you;

and when you pass through the rivers,

they will not sweep over you.

When you walk through the fire,

you will not be burned;

the flames will not set you ablaze. - Isaiah 43:2