Every single one of us has had to endure shortcomings.
All of us have experienced disappointment.
Every single person on this planet has regrets they will carry with them their entire lives.
To err is human so it makes sense humanity has made countless mistakes over the millennia we have inhabited this planet.
Yes, we all know the pain of loss, regret, disappointment, and countless other negatives that weigh us down.
And yes, we will endure more, that’s life. As Buddhists say, life is suffering.
That’s not the final story, no, no, no, it’s only brief moments in the chapters that make up the book of life.
While we all suffer, we also all live.
Whilst some say life is suffering, I see life as opportunity.
That grinding nature of life has a purpose.
Proverbs 27:17
Iron sharpens iron.
Ever see a knife get sharpened?
The very nature of sharpening a tool entails grinding it down to the point it’s dull points are destroyed leaving an albeit thinner yet sharper blade.
We are like that ourselves.
We work ourselves to the bone, get bombarded by task after task, endure hardships we can’t control, and withstand the fallout from the choices we do make.
At the time, it was painful, heartbreaking, and too often seemingly meaningless.
We often think, why do we do this? Why do we put up with the world? Why do we live like we do? Ultimately, why do we live?
We let these negative thoughts overwhelm us and sometimes destroy us but if you think about it logistically, you start to understand.
You can see the progress at a certain point. You feel yourself become faster, stronger, more resilient, and ultimately happy.
Those negative experiences make you who you are and while those still in the midst of it all don’t see it, once you get older, once you get to a point of reflection, you start to understand how those experiences shaped the person you’ve become.
You look in the mirror and you have two options, you can be proud of the man in the mirror or you can look at him with disgust, see the shortcomings etched into his face or a complete lack of scars from a life unlived.
Either way, you see who you’ve become.
Brothers, are you proud?
If not, you should be.
When I look at you two, I don’t see pain, I don’t see disappointment, I see soldiers of Yahweh adorned in iron ready to go into war and deliver our message to the masses.
Only one thing left to do, make sure they all hear it.
If they can’t, we’ll carve our message right onto their hearts.
To do that, we have to do what none of us wanted to do.
Fight our very own.
We’ll do what Christ himself would have done, destroy ourselves to save the world.
As iron sharpens iron to make a tool better, we’ll sharpen ourselves to make the world better.
If iron can’t do it, I’ll make sure gold will.