“The best things in life are usually difficult." - Dirk Benedict

 

Most of the time, life is great. However, there are times when there are challenges. The challenges vary in degree of difficulty, but they are all challenges. I consider myself fortunate that most of the time, the challenges have not made the biggest difference in the “big picture” of my life. I had not done well on a test or assignment, I could not go to a basketball game with friends because of school work, or I lost touch with a friend for a few weeks because we both got busy.

 

As much as I would like to say that the challenges I’ve faced have always been simple, and that my life is always easy, unfortunately that is not the case. I have had some more significant challenges in my life. Challenges that, along with the good, have shaped who I am today.

 

One of those experiences was the tragic passing of my uncle. When I was nine years old, my Uncle Charles, who my brothers and I fondly referred to as “Uncle Chuckie,” was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Because I was so young, my parents did not tell me the details about his condition. All they told my brothers and me was that Uncle Chuckie was sick. When he started losing his hair because of the chemotherapy, my parents told us that he was losing his hair because of the medicine that he was taking to help him get better. Then, one day in third grade, my mother pulled my siblings and me out of school to tell us that Uncle Chuckie had died. I remember being shocked and distraught by this news. Just the day before, my uncle seemed to be getting better from his brain cancer and now he died? My nine year-old mind could not wrap my head around that idea. I thought he was cured from his disease and, in my mind, people do not die from diseases once they are cured.

 

My uncle’s death was the first time I experienced losing someone close to me. Sadly, my father has no immediate family left. Most of his family died before I was born. My uncle was the last living person in my father’s immediate family and after his death, I was angry at HaShem for letting my uncle die. I could not understand how He could cause my father so much pain. He caused my father to lose most of his family early on in life and now He took my uncle away from him too? I was angry at HaShem for putting so much sadness in my father’s life.

 

Even though I was struggling with my faith in HaShem because of this experience, my father never did. He understood that everything happens for a reason and that we must trust that HaShem will make everything turn out for the best. My father would tell me that even though we might be upset at HaShem for how a situation turned out and we might question why He would do something that causes so much pain, we cannot let our emotions impact our service to Him. We do not always have to be happy while serving HaShem. In fact, it is often more meaningful when we serve Him when we are not happy. Doing so shows our commitment to Him and to the laws that He put in place for us. During those times, we are choosing to believe in Him even when it is the most painful, which is not easy. But, as Dirk Benedict said, the best things in life are often the most difficult, and serving HaShem is one of the best things.