Don't Let The Hard Days Win

 A stiff breeze is pushing the trees along the water's edge nearly straight sideways while curious tourists pull over off the scenic highway to get a look at this beautiful land I call home. Mountains seem to jut right out of the water's expanse, tide shoving the waves outward in rhythmic fashion. A sign posted along the fence tells the tragic story of a young man who gave his life in these dangerous mud flats last year in order to save his friend - a sad reminder that these wild spaces, gorgeous as they are, pose an ever-present threat if left disrespected.   

Lunch in hand, I'm taking some time to sit here with my family and take in the scenes. Winters keep many of us indoors so much up here that the brief few months that no snow is on the ground and the temps are warm are great incentive for us to get out and enjoy, and this drive is among my favorite places to go in the summers each year. Clouds play with the sunshine, and I'm fully immersed in people-watching as I eat my sandwich. It's not lost on me that people pay thousands of dollars to come see views like this that are near free to me all the time. This bit of God's country called Alaska truly is special, and moments like these remind me never to take it for granted. 

My attention is caught my a man walking by with a t-shirt that simply says, Don't let the hard days win. It's a profound statement, compounded by the nearby reminder of loss in the story of the kid who lost his life. I think of all the other scary rescues and deaths that have occurred in these waters and how change and pain and sudden tragedies are always a possibility in this world and nobody escapes unhurt. Hard days happen. For all. At some point. I look around at all the people passing by my car and wonder what are their stories? What pain could they be carrying? What have they survived? 

Throughout the day, long after I pulled away from that stop and the man with the t-shirt did too, I keep coming back to that little statement, packed with meaning. What does it mean to not let the hard days win? For some of us, that ends up being a life-long journey and a daily choice and, depending on each one's story, what that looks like could vary. But I think the commonality for all is the fact that our choice is involved in what the hard days do to us long term: the more we ruminate, the more we stew and become bitter, the more resentment and anger we hold, the more stuck we allow ourselves to be, the more isolated and withdrawn we are, the more traumas we incur, the more obsessed we become with getting revenge, the more we lick our wounds without seeking healing... all of these are ways in which we let the hard days win. 

Neuroscience is there to prove what the Bible has known all along - that the thoughts you think and the people you pick and the life you choose to live and the beliefs you carry after the crisis are even more important than the ones you brought into it. How you decide to hold that suffering is as much a part of your destiny as the adversity itself because we get to choose what we do with what we've been given and asked to bear. And the more you give into the lies and the victimhood, the more you throw pity parties for yourself and play on others sympathy, the more you live in regrets and wish for days you'll never see again, the more you try to deny reality and fight the facts, the more ingrained that pain will become and the more you'll begin to turn into what you have told yourself over and over again. 

The version of the story you choose decides the ending. 

Deciding not to let the hard days win is... hard. Not going to lie there. It's difficult to pick up all the broken pieces and tell yourself you're going to live again, love again, learn again. It requires all the courage in the world to still keep an open heart, an open mind, and an open soul when life has crushed you beyond what you thought you could bear. It's the bravest thing ever to choose for yourself the path of healing and determine that the pain will not have the final say. Taking the slow, steady steps toward a life of purpose after the hurt is the most grueling thing you will ever do... because it requires you to look at things and talk about things and make peace with things that caused you great heartache. But each day you decide to wake up, embrace the breath still in your lungs, and choose to make that one day a masterpiece - each time you do that - is a blow to the Enemy and a win for God's glory and your own peace of mind. 

To not let the hard days win is a battle all its own. It's the fight after the fight that determines who you will become as a result of what you've faced. I'm learning this, and you probably are too: there is power in the way you choose to look at what you've been through - the way you decide to hold the story that is yours. You can either hide it or give it away as a gift and a testimony to the Grace that's sustained you. The hard days can either do you in, or you can turn them into your greatest triumph. 

Determine you're going to come alive in what the painful times have taught you. Don't let the hard days win. Fight for your healing and do so, starting today.