Parents often tell their children that life isn’t fair. The harshness of this reality is somehow softened when it comes from loving parents. It’s usually not until children become adults that they realize how right their parents were and how painful some of life’s injustices can be. Life really can be unfair. But that doesn’t mean that life can’t be good.
Some of the happiest people are those who endure more than their share of injustices. How is this possible? Perhaps it’s because they stop competing with those around them; they simply do their best with what they have. They look forward instead of backward and stop thinking about what could have been. They seem to understand that “why me?” questions can’t really be answered here and now, so they don’t ask them. They’ve felt deeply of life’s sorrows, so they actively look for and cultivate the joys. And somewhere deep in their hearts, they know they can trust in a loving God who is perfectly merciful and ultimately fair.
Recently, some children were playing a board game, and one of the players was disappointed with the cards he’d been dealt. Everyone else seemed to have good cards, but he got most of the bad ones. As the game went on, instead of complaining, he decided to bring some humor into the game. The mood lightened, and before long the children agreed: “The game is a lot more fun if we don’t keep score.”
And so is life. When we stop keeping score, when we stop itemizing slights and holding on to grievances, we start recognizing blessings. We realize that life may not be fair, but it can be good—in fact, better than we ever thought possible.
Program #3988