A trigger for frustration
Selwyn Hughes in life convictions



Often when emphasizing this theme- that life is painful and difficult- I have been accused of being a pessimist. Usually, I reply like this: better to be a sane pessimist then a silly optimist. Only when we face reality can we overcome it. It was a statement made by Oswald Chambers which brought this issue home to me; ‘there will be little progress in the Christian life until we see that life is more tragic than orderly.’



‘More tragic then orderly.’ Is it really so? I think it is. Some deny this and point to the many good things that happen. But Chambers is not denying that good things do happen. Nor is he saying that God does not work through these situations to glorify His name. he is simply saying that in the ledger of life the column marked ‘Tragic events’ has more entries than the column marked ‘Orderly Events’. Not to accept and understand this is to live with a false view of life.



Do you know someone who moans more or less incessantly about the enormity of their burdens? If you could delve beneath the surface of that person’s life you would discover a thought pattern that goes like this: life should be easy… it ought not to have so much pain. Whenever you hear words such as ‘should’, ‘ought’ or ‘must’ you need to be aware that the person is bordering on what in counseling we call ‘demandingness’. It is a sad condition in which people become indignant because life does not go the way they think it should go. Thus they focus more on the way things should be than on the way they are. People with this condition live very frustrated lives.