What Really Matters
When life’s challenges affront us, the superfluity of daily life suddenly loses its meaning.
My wife and I are the parents of one child, a nearly two-year-old boy. He is our first child, and I am therefore a little clueless when it comes to parenting (my wife is much further along than me in that regard). This week he managed to come down with what was later found to be a gastrointestinal bug of some sort, with an ear infection and cold on top of that. When he woke up with a 105° fever, we rushed him to the pediatrician’s office. He was dehydrated, and was admitted to the hospital that night. Since this was our first bout with any health-related issues for our son, one can hopefully understand that we felt anxious and worried. Fortunately, after taking in some fluids intravenously he began to recover without a problem. The point of the story is not the ending—which, thankfully, was a happy one—but what happened during the difficult experience.
When life gets challenging, I’m convinced that we need at least three things to get us through:
- Family/close friends
- A close-knit community
- Hope that things will turn out
Family/Close Friends
We were overwhelmed by the amount of love and support we felt when our family and friends caught wind that we were in the hospital with our son. Upon arriving home, we found that a group of our close friends had cleaned and organized our entire apartment! My sister showed up unannounced a few hours later with dinner. Some other friends, knowing that we would be surely taken care of, decided to leave a half-dozen of my favorite Krispy Kreme donuts with a note to let us know they were thinking about us. You can imagine how we felt!
A Close-knit Community
The Church of Jesus Christ serves my family well in this regard. Leaders of our local congregation organized volunteers to bring us dinner for three nights following our return home from the hospital. When we attended our church meetings that Sunday, our friends at church showed genuine concern for our well-being and were relieved to hear that everything was OK. Since it is a global church, we know that no matter where we may relocate to in the future there will be a warm community there to welcome us.
Hope
This is perhaps the most important factor to our ability to handle life’s curve balls. For me, hope comes from my belief that I will be able to be with my family in the afterlife. I knew that no matter what happened to my precious baby son, he is my son both in life and after death. This is possible through Jesus Christ, and brings me great peace each day. The following Easter-themed video shows why we can have hope in Jesus Christ:
I encourage any seeker of peace and comfort to be sure that these three anchors are intact before pursuing any other endeavor.