“The most beautiful stones have been polished to brilliance by life’s strongest storms.”
—Anonymous
The storms of life are not pleasant for any of us, but we all have to weather those storms that come our way. Life is a mixed bag. There are many opportunities and occasions for fun, laughter and celebration, but nobody gets through life without at least some hardship. As we travel life’s journey, we have to take both the good and the bad.
Like wealth, hardship is not distributed equally among all people. Some people seem to make it through life with only occasional hardship, while others appear to have far more than their share. Why is it that some people have so much more trouble than others? I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure that it is not because God wills it that way. A lot of it is just plain luck. It is true that we can make some of our own luck through careful planning, an abundance of caution and just plain good judgment, but there is nothing we can do to avoid all problems. Trouble and hardship are just as much a natural part of life as pleasure and joy.
We have all known people who have gone through extraordinary hardship and suffering, and we sometimes wonder just how they are able to cope with it all. They cope with it because they have no other choice. No matter how hard the going gets, most of us want to keep on going. The only alternative is to just give up and die. Life is too precious for most of us to even consider that option. We just keep on plodding along, always maintaining the hope that we will soon catch a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel, no matter how dark it gets.
Most of us have experienced severe suffering, at least once, if we have lived very long. We can remember just how bad it was, and we would not wish it on anyone else. But we know that, at all times, there are people out there suffering just as much as we suffered, and maybe even a great deal more. As we think back on our own dark moments and remember just how much we appreciated even the smallest acts of kindness, we should feel moved to want to do something to help relieve the suffering of others.
Suffering is one of the facts of life. It is always taking place somewhere. If there is anything positive that comes out of suffering it is that, if we survive, it will strengthen us. None of us would seek suffering in order to gain strength, because there are better ways to become stronger. However, if suffering is thrust upon us against our will, we can at least hope that we will emerge from it a stronger and better person.
Think about it.
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Copyright 2026
Allen W. Smith
