Overcome

I was thinking about the word "overcome" this morning and how we use it to describe trials of life. It can sometimes be casually tossed around to describe all difficult seasons when it really only applies to those that we tackle head-on. We can't avoid adversity and claim to have overcome it. It's not possible to steer clear of (necessary) conflict and talk about how we overcame a problem. 

If you imagine your life as a trail through the woods and difficult circumstances as something blocking that path, you are left with two choices:

1. Jump off of the path, find another route, and refuse to deal with what's in front of you. You can circumvent the direct issue, but you didn't really handle it--you found a way around it that ignored it. It might be possible to find a non-confrontational way around it, but there will be problems in finding your way back to the right path once you're past it.

2. Recognize the huge obstacle in the middle of your path and choose to find a way over over it. This choice isn't easy--it might be covered in barbed wire, be bigger than we first anticipated, and exhaust us more than we thought. Moving forward is an aggressive way to keep moving in the right direction. 

It's the second choice that builds strength in us while revealing fortitude we might not have realized we had. Once we've overcome it (with God's strength being our fuel) we'll be able to look back and realize exactly what's been conquered. There won't be any confusion about finding the right path again--we're still on it and more resolute about keeping our footing sure for our future.