The value of circumstances are found in life and leadership lessons. If we are living and breathing, we face circumstances. They are the conditions of the environment that we currently exist in.
Here is the thing about circumstances, especially when they are tough ones. We as humans naturally want to be rescued from them. Just like the Coast Guard rescuing someone from a raging sea. We want that helicopter to drop the ladder and extract us out of the circumstance…immediately. Not later, but now.
Since the ladder doesn’t always get dropped down for us, we must change our approach to difficult seasons in our worlds. Our prayers and desires should shift to being delivered THROUGH those circumstances, not extracted from them.
With that said, here are three values of circumstances as we walk THROUGH them:
Store Gratitude
With technology, I reserve very little space in my desk for storage. But, I do have one important file. I take every note of gratitude I receive and file them away for a later day. It feels great to initially receive them, but they just read differently later.
Whenever I get in a season of discouragement or dysfunction, it’s my go to file. It is a great way to remember that we do make an impact on this world. Even when we feel like the situation is suffocating us, notes of gratitude breathe life back into us. Store gratitude.
Serve Others
Serving others is one of the greatest tools used for getting through the circumstances we are facing. When we walk through tough circumstances, our attention gets directed inward, not outward. We may get Stuck in a place of blaming ourselves, self-pity, and/or second guessing the decisions that led us to where we are.
The easiest way to get out of that hole is to serve others. Serve at a homeless shelter, volunteer to mentor a child, show up at a food pantry to help stock the shelves, or just simply do something nice for someone else. Hold a door, leave a bigger tip, smile at someone, or say hello when you pass by another human.
Finding a way to redirect our focus outward is key. It takes the attention off us and places it on someone else. Not only does it shift our attention, but our perspective as well. Serve others.
Peek Back
Very rarely would I encourage this Vantage Point, but in trying circumstances it is worth considering. Peek back, not look back. Sometimes when we look back, we can get stuck looking in the rearview mirror and not through the windshield. It can cause us to miss the light at the end of the tunnel.
Peeking back gives us a good reminder of the circumstances that we made it through previously. It’s like a movie trailer of those comebacks when we are down and out.
It reminds us of our strength, resilience, and perseverance. That subtle hint that we are more than capable of getting through whatever we are facing now. We should give our past a quick peek, then wade forward through our circumstances and into a brighter future. Peek back.
Conclusion
The hardest part of circumstances is waiting. If we aren’t going to be rescued from them, then we will need to wait through them. That can be a difficult concept to grasp while we are drowning in difficult circumstances, but it is a necessary evil of the process.
We learn in waiting. Each of us are raw pieces of clay being molded and shaped into a better version of ourselves. Primed and ready to take on the future and its opportunities.
Keep this in mind. No matter how difficult, challenging, or discouraging the moment, circumstances are like visitors just passing through. They come and they go.
In the end, better is ahead. We need to move through circumstances and not expect to get rescued from them. Even in the hardest of times, remember that there is always value in circumstances.