The Sentence We All Need to Stop Saying

Your alarm clock goes off, and you snooze it. Then you snooze it again. And again.

When you know you're already late, you drag yourself out of bed, still bleary eyed and wishing you had 3 more hours.

 "It shouldn't be this hard to get out of bed in the morning,"

you say, chastising yourself.

You're at a restaurant, and the waitress has just brought your sandwich with...tomatoes, even though you asked for no tomatoes and no pickles. She takes it back and brings you another one, this time without tomatoes...but with pickles. You're getting frustrated and you're hungry.

"It shouldn't be this hard to get one order right,"

you grumble, already docking her tip in your mind.

Life has been treating you roughly. You're under a lot of stress at work, your kid is failing English and you can't figure out why, and on top of that, your dad just found out he has cancer. And now your washing machine is broken.

"It just shouldn't be this hard,'

you complain, blinking tear-filled eyes towards heaven.

I want to address each of these times that we may say that something "shouldn't be this hard." There are a few reasons why this is not the best way to approach life's difficult times.

Situation 1) We all have things that are hard for us.

And that doesn't make you a failure or weak. It means you're human and that you're following God's plan for you, the whole point of which is to have you learn how to overcome hard things.You don't get to decide what is hard for you. You do get to decide whether you're going to accept that those things exist for a good reason, or whether you're going to blame and guilt-trip yourself for having a hard time. Please don't do the latter.

Situation 2) What's hard for someone else is different than what's hard for you.

You never have the whole story. You never know what someone else is going through or all of the things they are trying to fit on their plate. It is not our place to judge how well someone else is doing or to decide that they are struggling more than they should be. Maybe that waitress is working 3 jobs to support her family and stayed up all night with a sick child. Maybe the cook didn't sleep last night and is worrying about the call he's going to get from his doctor with the test results. Please remember that everyone has multiple things they are facing at any one time, and that you can't decide whether or not something is hard for them.

Situation 3) You will never be asked to travel through any hardships that you can't handle with God's help.

Life is meant to be challenging, even brutally so at times. That is how we become better and learn to rely on our Savior. Instead of complaining to God next time you feel overwhelmed with burdens, try taking a step back and thanking him for the blessings He has given you. Then ask for the patience and faith to get through the trials you are facing. God will never sail you through a storm you cannot weather.

Next time you're inclined to say that "it shouldn't be this hard," consider that a) maybe it should be, and b) maybe that's for the best.
So give yourself (and others) some slack :)

image sources: snooze, food, look, judge