Confidence amid the drama of life

THE Book of Ecclesiastes has a great message for us that precisely should inspire confidence in us as we go through the ocean of life that can be calm one time and rough at another time. (cfr. 3,1-11) “All things have their season, and in their times all things pass under heaven.”

This simply means that however things go, God is always in control. “He has made all things good in their time, and has delivered the world to their consideration, so that man cannot find out the work which God has made from the beginning to the end.”

This is actually a call for faith in God and to be always guided by it because even if there certainly are things and situations that we cannot understand or cope, with faith they will always work out for the good.

This truth of our faith has been reiterated by St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans when he said, “In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (8,28)

That is why it always pays to have a sporting spirit and a healthy sense of humor as we ride through the wind and waves of the ocean of life. It’s true that we should always be serious in pursuing our ultimate goal, as expressed by St. Paul again when he said in his Second Letter to Timothy, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (4,7)

But we know that there is always the possibility of a defeat or a loss, of frustration and disappointment. Just the same, what we should do is simply to move on. We are not expected to perfect and complete everything that we do. God will do that for us and with us, as again St. Paul told us that “he, who has begun a good work in you, will perfect it.” (Phil 1,6)

We should just try our best, knowing that God will do the rest, since our best will never be good enough no matter how much we try. To those who tend to be a perfectionist, you need to have humility, so you can accept calmly this fact of life.

We need a sporting spirit because life’s true failure can come only when we choose not to have hope. That happens when our vision and understanding of things is narrow and limited, confined only to the here and now and ignorant of the transcendent reality of the spiritual and supernatural world.

Besides, life involves a till-death struggle against all sorts of enemies, starting with our own treacherous self, the ever-seductive world, and most of all, the spiritual enemies who certainly are more powerful than us.

Finally, life involves pursuing a goal that is much greater, yes, infinitely greater than ourselves. We should not be a bad sport who gives up easily without even trying, or who surrenders in the middle of an exciting and suspenseful game.

We have to be sport and adventurous in facing the different conditions of our life. And it would greatly help if we too can have an abiding sense of humor. Otherwise, we would just fall into states of sadness, pessimism and despair which actually are unnecessary and are avoidable.

Thus, whether we win or lose in a game, succeed or fail in our adventures and projects, we can still manage to have fun and, more importantly, to learn precious lessons, as in, we get to know more about ourselves and others, about our strengths and weaknesses, about the virtues we need to develop and grow, etc.