Life Is Supposed To Be Hard!

LIFE IS SUPPOSED TO BE HARD!

Life is supposed to be hard!

A baby crawls and falls hundreds times,

As he tries to stand and take

His first step.

A hundred, maybe thousand falls

In the process of learning to walk!

And then on to the next hurdles –

Attempting to run and hop, skip and jump!

Oh, then the tricycle, then the bicycle;

The skateboard… and a thousand more falls!

Yes, it’s supposed to be hard!

Life is supposed to be hard!

Going to a strange place,

Surrounded by total strangers!

Being told what to do,

Where to sit, how to talk, how to act.

Every day actually given problems to solve.

More stress, more pressure, and more problems –

Even assigned problems to take home and work on.

13 years of increasingly difficult problems in school!

Yes, it’s supposed to be hard!

Life is supposed to be hard!

Finding a job that will pay what I’m worth.

Competing with the other five hundred

That want this job and are better qualified.

Employed, but overworked and underpaid.

Unappreciated, and continuously bossed around.

Arriving early, working through lunch, staying late.

Wondering if I’m part of the next layoff.

Why won’t they give me a raise?

Can’t they see the value I add?

Yes, it’s supposed to be hard!

Life is supposed to be hard!

Finding someone that I love and

Want to spend the rest of my life with.

Finding someone that loves me and

Wants to spend the rest of their life with me.

Do we want to have children, and

All of the challenges and trials they bring.

Can we afford a car, a house, a family?

A thirty-year loan? Is that even possible?

How will we ever make it?

Yes, it’s supposed to be hard!

Life is supposed to be hard!

Praying endlessly but not getting

My prayers past the ceiling,

Trying to make sense

Of accidents, of sickness, of debt,

Of relationships in turmoil.

Of depression and sorted bad news,

Of a lost job, of an early death.

Why me? Why doesn’t God just fix it?

Yes, it’s supposed to be hard!

I see now why life is supposed to be hard!

And I’m profoundly amazed at the purposes!

A multitude of lessons have been learned –

Fortitude, endurance and faith,

Patience and more patience,

Of never giving up, never quitting!

Of testing the limits, and reaching for the stars,

Of discovering an infinite number of possibilities -

That otherwise would never have been known.

And of finding and knowing and appreciating God!

I’m so glad that life is supposed to be hard!

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For my thoughts are not your thoughts, 

neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, 

so are my ways higher than your ways, 

and my thoughts than your thoughts. 

~ Isaiah 55:8-9 ~

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Dedicated to my friend Steve Anderton whom I love. He has taught me some significant and vital life lessons. He has showed me by powerful example that no matter how bad things may get, there’s always someone else that’s got it worse. He has also taught me that at life’s darkest moments it’s never too late to give the Lord another chance to perform a miracle. Thank you my friend!

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Wm. Calvin Hughes 

February 24, 2014 

Lake Elsinore, California