Two things come to my mind when I think about the difficult things I have experienced in my lifetime.  One was the most difficult thing I had to do in my life.  The other is something that happens throughout my life, on different occasions and in different aspects of my daily life.  It can be avoided, but it often catches me off guard.  That’s the one I want to write about today. 

It doesn’t matter what age you are, your social status, or your employment; it can happen to any of us.

It’s a time when we are challenged, a time when we need to put our feet firmly on the ground and stand on what we believe in: kindness, love, compassion, and our good intentions.

Yet something overcomes us; we hear the noise and can’t seem to work our way through all the distractions, all the pain, all the struggles, and all the weight of life.

It’s difficult to watch happen to people you know and are familiar with, and understand how grounded they are in life.  Possibly even how grounded they are in advising others.

How we get consumed by the noise varies.  For myself, I see it happening when I have less on my plate, when my schedule is full, my feet are normally grounded solidly in Jesus.  I continually work on improving my intentions, my ability to focus on love and compassion, yet an unusual amount of time on my hands can throw me off course.

For those of us seeing others get influenced by the noise, what do we do when we see that happening?  I look at the intentions of the person, I try to put myself in their position, and think about what I do when I’m floundering, and warfare is attacking.  I pray, I ask to be shown how to move forward, how to work through the noise.  And I ask to be shown guidance on how to get back on path. 

Helping others move through the distractions, helping them keep their feet solid on the ground, is very tricky. The noise is so loud that it’s hard to see through all the chaos around.  Normally, I listen.  As I listen, I pray and ask Jesus to speak through me.  I try not to say much unless the words come to my mind.  When we are thrown off course, it is hard to hear direction.

If I believe there is reason to suggest something that might be helpful, I pray that the person hears the information and can clearly make a decision regarding the situation.  Truthfully, often the information is either not heard, or the person’s “will” is stronger than their desire to follow through with the suggestion.  I continue to pray that the person hears and can deviate from their current path of destruction.  But that doesn’t always happen.

We often have to live through the struggles, work through the solutions, and pay the consequences of the path we have chosen.  But if our intentions are good and love is there, so is Jesus. 

Opportunity is there to get back on our intended path.  The path may have been altered, which may or may not have been intended, but the path is consistently better when I follow Jesus.  Again, the consequences might be there, the struggles might be there, but I have peace because I’m walking my intended path.

I stay on that path through prayer.  Prayer always refocuses me on what Jesus intended me to do or become. 

Difficult experiences, or not, I rely on Jesus for my direction.

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