More Then We Can Handle.....

"We are never, absolutely never given more then we can handle. In fact we are given exactly what we need at any given time."

Today's entry, Each Day A New Beginning

This seems so true at first.... It sounds really great on paper, and is true for most crises. Another way it's said is "God never gives us any more then we can handle." Well, God never does. Although I hate to bring up the devil, the devil does give us more then we can handle at times.

Rape is too much to handle (especially for children), torture is too much to handle. We live in a world where genocide happens from time to time, and that's too much to handle. The haulocaust was too much to handle for most. Nobody needs that kind of abuse. We go from living to merely surviving at times when death, destruction and horrors happen to us. Surviving means we meet our animal needs -- eating, breathing, and keeping ourselves warm or clothed. These are things the devil orchestrates. God can give us the tools we need to survive such things if we are open to receiving them -- if we haven't entirely lost faith during such things. But it is really hard to feel as if we are living in survival mode.

Anyway the point of this entry was, I think, "Don't sweat the small stuff...." Most of what we go through is small stuff. Believing that we are not given more then we can handle (with the exceptions mentioned above) can help us survive copious amounts of pain caused by the loss of loved ones. It is also important not to "bite off more then we can chew."

Addiction qualifies as biting off more then we can chew. Addiction/alcoholism, too, is too much to handle for most people. It really is slavery -- which is another thing that is too much to handle. God doesn't make us into addicts or alcoholics.

Sobriety is not too much to handle. Reality, most of the time, simply isn't that bad. The media tends to amplify the bad stuff that happens simply by refusing to balance it out with all the good stuff that happens in the world.

When I was homeless (and addicted) I learned that there are a lot of kind people out there in the world. I travelled around (hitchhiking) and I'd say, safely, 98% of the rides I got from people were really nice. I was often offered shelter that turned out to be safe. This cured me of cyncism; it really did. I used to be such a cynic at heart. People I didn't know fed me, drove me, and sheltered me. I figured hitchhiking was safer then squatting somewhere for a long period of time and being discovered by some predatory type. I also feel that it was more profitable. The cops tend not to like panhandlers....

I did spend some time standing by the side of the off ramp in San Jose with a sign asking travellers for "donations" to the homeless. I made it obvious I was the homeless individual. I could usually only handle standing there for about an hour or two at a time -- but I'd make, on average, $20 an hour.

People aren't all bad, and they aren't all good. It isn't "all good" all the time. We do get and create garbage from time to time. Sometimes the best way to handle it is to throw it out. Throwing stuff out can take years and years at times....

It's okay to lose faith at times, as long as we can find it in times of crisis. Faith can save our lives. "Whatever my problem today, I will let God have it. A solution is in the making. I see it just as quickly as I can let go of the problem." Each Day A New Beginning. It takes faith to give our problems to our Creator, and it takes faith, great faith and courage at times, to put the solution into practice.

Just remember, most things are not too much to handle, and we can survive most anything. "Love heals all."