Week of April 30, 2001
Michael S.

"I have seen the travail, which God hath given
to the sons of men to be exercised in it."
Ecclesiastes 3:10

Even though my most favorite passages of Scripture are found in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 -- "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven . . . . . " -- I am also mindful of what the Preacher said about having seen the " . . . the travail, which was given . . . " I have on a number of occasions taken the time to take "inventory" of my life experiences and each time I am given cause to wonder at the choices I made when confronted with "travails" and their consequences.

I have ever been an optimist and looked upon life's challenges as "opportunities for growth or learning". Like the challenges of losing my mother when I was 14 and being placed in a boarding school, serving in the Army, getting married, having three children, losing a wife tragically, remaking a new life, remarrying and expanding my family with two step children and, now, surviving cancer and heart problems. I have taken time to consider carefully these and other experiences and to be most grateful for the benefits of my faith. Faith has allowed me to survive many things and given me the strength to endure.

After a long career as an engineer, I found myself semiretired and employed in a homeless shelter where I watched how others, children and adults, dealt with joblessness, addictions, disease, emotional and mental problems and many obstacles to a fruitful life. Some gave up with a whimper, some refused responsibilities, some worked very hard and failed, some tried hard and finally succeeded. There appeared to be no particular pattern evident until I started to examine them in terms of faith. Those who had faith, though sorely tried, continued to work towards their goals and would make it through to self-sufficiency and better lives. They had invested of themselves and in themselves.

I considered then what my life experiences have been and how things managed somehow always to work out in unexpected and different ways than I had planned. I accepted that there was a force, a power greater than myself, at work in my life and in those around me. I came to Abiding Presence at a low time of my life. Life changed for me. I'm glad I stayed.

God, grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the strength to change the things we can and the wisdom to know the difference. Dear Lord and Savior, we all have experienced "travails" in our lives, You have ever been with us and gave strength to survive in your grace. Thank you for being in our lives. Amen.

Contributed by Michael S.
Published Monday April 30, 2001
Week 23 of Liturgical Year C