Quick Fix Anyone?

The other day at work I was working with a patient who’s been having some back trouble now for several years. In the middle of his exercise routine he said, “I wish there was a quick fix for this.”

Quick fixes are nice, aren’t they? It would be nice if we could carry around that “easy button” and punch it any time we needed a quick fix.

Or would it?

Think about it. If everything in life had a quick fix, how would we ever learn patience or perseverance? How would we learn to trust? How would we learn those important life lessons we then pass on to others? How would we ever develop our character? We would all be very boring, I think.

Hey, I’m not condemning anyone for wishing for a quick fix for their trial. I like a quick fix as much as the next guy. Who wants to suffer? To cry? To agonize? Who wants to spend days and weeks and months struggling with anything? But it all serves a purpose.

James was on to something when he said, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.”

Now, honestly, I don’t know about the pure joy part, that’s difficult as all get out (sometimes . . . most of the time), but I do know about the testing of my faith developing perseverance and patience part. There’s definitely a method to the madness.