The Making of You by Helen

Don’t you see that it could be the making of you?
As you stand here now, flooded by the pressures of life
Wondering how you are going to survive
Gasping for breath amidst responsibilities,
decisions, work, bills,
Circular problems that have you going dizzy
Because they don’t stop rearing their ugly head over and over.
And it’s tiring, and it weighs you down

But it could be the making of you.
And you should “look on the bright side”
And it sounds proposteous
because you’ve looked on the bright side before
and it hasn’t made it any brighter or any lighter.

But you should know that, it is ‘making you’ whether you like it or not.
It’s making you into something –
for better or for worse.
Building in you resilience, everyday that you persevere
And it’s giving you wisdom
so that next time that circular problem comes around you’ll be that bit wiser,
That bit closer to solving it.

Believe it or not, you can choose
Yes, you can decide whether to let it ‘be the making of you’ or not
Because when you’re suffering for a long time
it produces perseverance
And when you’re perserving through tough times
It can’t help but build your character. Does this sound familiar?
With this newly formed character comes hope.
Hope that’s not fake,
In fact, it is not even a hopeful kind of hope,
It’s a certain hope of a pain-free future.

And just so we can be absolutely sure we can trust it –
Our Father gave us a deposit.
His love
and he poured it straight into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
It sustains, strengthens, and heals us from the inside out.
Even now.
And if you let it –
It will be the making of you.

People have an amazing ability to come through suffering, stronger and more beautiful than before – like the most precious diamond, its beauty and strength formed by undergoing a process of immense pressure. Romans 5 seems to suggest that it is the character building qualities of suffering, coupled with the love of God, a love which is both a reality for the now and a promise for the future which bring purpose to our suffering. To be honest, I’m still trying to get my head around that.

 

“And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” Romans 5: 3-5

 

1 Comment

  1. Love it. Love the way it went from people’s platitude – which I’m sure you’re all getting a lot of at the mo – to the real building etc. Really good. 🙂

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