Balancing Opposites

   What do all of these things have in common: sadness and happiness, brave and scared, and good and bad? If you said they are opposites you are correct. The neat thing about opposites is that you need to have both in order to appreciate the other.

   Let me give you an example. Let’s say I was at the park and that I was learning how to ride my bike. My parent is holding onto the bike for a while but then they let go. I balance for ten feet and then fall and scrape my knee. I just went from being joyful to being sad. But, after my parents clean up my cut, I get back on my bike. My parent holds the bike for a little and then lets go again. This time I stay up on the bike. Now I am happy because I have overcome the scrape. I know how to ride a bike; and it would not have felt as good without the struggle.

   Opposites can be annoying but they do help us appreciate everything in life. Some people wonder why there are so many bad things happening in the world if God is so good. The answer is sin. Sin has entered the world and a lot of bad things happen. People get hurt, lose their homes, lose money, etc. But, out of the ashes of those bad things, good happens. When we overcome struggles we appreciate all the blessings we have in life.

   It also makes me think about the saying that opposites attract. That’s why we all have different personalities; because, it would be a very boring world if everyone acted the exact same way. And, when you think about couples, there is usually one person who is more outgoing than the other and that is okay.

   My final thought about opposites comes from Bambi 2. There is a song in the movie called There is Life. The song goes something like this: “After the rain, the sun reappear, there is life, after the pain, the joy will still be here, there is life, for it’s out of the darkness, that we learn to see, and out of the silence, that songs come to be.”

   So, are you ever tempted to focus on all of the bad in the world instead of the good? Are you thankful for all of the struggles in life because they help you appreciate the good?

   John 16:33, Revelation 21:4, Psalm 18:2