Hey Peeps!
It's the little rabbit from the Lost Usagi blog! Some of my latter posts on that blog ended up being life muses, which was not the purpose of that blog, so I decided to create this blog, Rabbit Trails Diaries. I named it that because, A) it follows the theme of Lost Usagi (Lost Rabbit) and B) it has no other purpose other that general life muses. This way, Lost Usagi, my first blog, can remain a blog about living in Japan as a foreigner and, with Rabbit Trails Diary, I can still write heart-felt posts about life.
For those of you who are not familiar with my other blog, Lost Usagi is a cultural blog that I started as a study-abroad student in Japan. 'Usagi' means 'rabbit' in Japanese, an animal which was used to characterize Americans in a manga because the first three letters are U-S-A. There is a more in-depth explanation on the side of my blog which is located here.
I tend to muse about life, since I studied a little bit of psychology in school and I want to write comics for a living eventually. Musing about life helps me to see who I am as a child of God and an individual. So, I really want to share a little bit about my thoughts and discoveries in life to help you in yours. Thus, after many, many months of considering a spin-off blog, I am now starting one. YAY!...
So life, let me catch everyone up on where I am in life right now. Last May, I graduated from university as a double-degree, double-minor student. My degrees are a Bachelors of Fine Arts, Illustration and a Bachelors of Arts, Japanese Language and Culture, while my minors are in psychology and kinesiology (study of human movement). Just a mere 11 days after graduation, I packed up and moved to Japan to become an English teacher in elementary school and kindergarten through a Japanese sister city of a nearby American city. So, here I am, living in Japan making a living as an English teacher. It is my first job, so there has been a lot of personal growth. But, I should also clarify that there has been a lot I have gone through over the last 4 years, from preparing to study abroad in 2012 to losing a people close to me in my last couple of years in school to moving and establishing my life as an English teacher. So, let my first entry be able life.
In November of this past year, I was visited by a Buddhist lady who was inviting people to learn about Buddhism, with the hope of their potential faith in it. Now, I am a Christian, so I decided to talk to her about what she believes in. This conversation was not very deep since, because this conversation was happening in Japan, there was a bit of a language barrier. Yet, the one thing this lady kept tossing at me for an incentive accepting Buddhism was that my life's problems would disappear. She showed me articles from her Buddhist newspaper where people who were sick or down on their luck came to faith in Buddha and suddenly were healed or rewarded with life-changing luck. While a reset button sounds nifty and great, let's think about this for a bit. How do people really come to appreciate the little things in life? Isn't it when they are struggling and begin to reconsider all that they have in life?
For me, this remains true. I have faith that where ever I am, whatever the circumstances are, God intends to bless me, not destroy me, because I am a child of His. As Romans 8:28 NASB says:
"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His Purpose."
Note that it says 'all things' not just the good things in life. Why is that? Well, first off, through suffering, we grow a lot. As Romans 5:3-5 ESV says:
"Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."So, through struggles we gain hope in God's love for us. How? Because we come to understand what Paul means in Phillippians 4:12-13 NASB.
"I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in and and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."
We learn to rely on God in all circumstances when we have struggled. We also learn the depth of God's love because, as Hebrews 12 explains, a father who disciplines loves his children.
Hebrews 12:7-11ESV
"It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."
Hebrews 12: 6 also quotes Proverbs 3:11-12 ESV, which says:
"My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline
or be weary of his reproof,
for the Lord reproves him whom he loves,
as a father the son in whom he delights."
Okay, so when we goof up and cause trouble for ourselves, Lord shows His love by disciplining us. But, not all suffering is from our own mistakes or poor choices. Some of our suffering is because there is a spiritual war going on in our world. While this war is referred to many times throughout the Bible, Ephesians 6 explains that we must equip ourselves and stand strong during this on-going war.
Ephesians 6:11-13 NASB
"Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm."
As Christians, we are enduring the evil schemes of Satan and resisting the evil that became part of our human and worldly nature through the fall of man. So, as a result, we struggle throughout our lives.
Yet, what do we gain through our daily struggles? Well, as Christians, we gain the fruit of the spirit, which is listed in Galatians 5:22-24.
"But, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."
I love that bolded part, 'against such things there is no law'. Why do we need to keep expanding our laws? Because we are not inherently good and are likely to do evil against our neighbors and society through our base desires. But, through God's loving discipline, we will develop the characteristics of God and learn how to resist our selfish, human ways. As a result, we don't need as many laws to restrict our behaviors. Galatians 5 goes on to say, in verses 25-26:
"If we live by the Spirit, let us walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another."
So, wrapping all of these verses back together, the one thing I consistently notice about those who seek hope in God during their times of need is that when they make it out of that dark tunnel of life, they are more appreciative of the things provided to them, are more compassionate and patient towards others, and are more responsible with the things they have been given. Why is that? Because they have had to experience life without the things we consider 'daily needs', relying on God to make it through each day, and grown in their abilities to see their own weaknesses and strengths.
In short, we need the darkness to be able to appreciate the light. We need to struggle to appreciate God's gifts to us.
Now back to the Buddhist lady. While she was being led to tempt me with the false notion of earthly perfection, I explained that it is through my struggles that I become happier with my life because I know God is teaching me new things everyday. The lady continued to insist that I didn't need to know life's struggles, but trust me, I do need to know that. For my sake and others, I need to understand real struggles, not merely the inconvenient annoyances, like my internet going down or a store not having the exact soda I want. How are we gonna appreciate the bed we have until we have to spend a few nights on a hard wooden floor with only a pillow, blanket and inch thick floor mat? How are we gonna appreciate our working water heater until our heater quits on us in the middle of a near-freezing winter? Our struggles are momentary, like a blink of our eye, but what we gain from them can impact the world for generations. So, don't give up when life throws you a curve ball and don't give into the magic 'reset button'. Learn to rely on God and seek the blessings He has already put into place.
Until then, later peeps!
