THERE IS a Gospel song I learned in my childhood, and learned to love in my teen years and beyond, as I understood it better. Its lyrics are comforting to me in times of trial. The song is one many of you have probably sung or heard sung in your life.

“When peace like a river, attendeth my way. When sorrow like sea billows roll. Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say ‘it is well, it is well, with my soul.’”

For many Christians, those are words of inspiration from the scriptures. But even for non Christians, those are words of inspiration. Psychologists would term this “acceptance.” It is the quality of recognizing that we cannot control very much in our lives, and life will often toss us and whip us about, as we face its storms. Our job is to survive the bad days, to live to fight another day. Our job is to persevere, and to learn that acceptance of sorrow and difficulty are part of life.

Those who participate in 12-step programs have a saying that is appropriate. They say that one should try to change the things you can, accept the things you cannot change, and have the wisdom to know the difference. You don’t need to be fighting any kind of addiction to know that’s great advice for living.

LIKE MUCH of my commentary of the preferred way of living, it is easier for me to write about it than to live it. Aren’t we all that way? It’s easy to know what we should do when facing adversity, but we have fears which quickly replace our calm, measured approach that works so well when it is someone other than us caught in the maelstrom. When we find ourselves deep in the belly of the beast like the prophet Jonah, finding our way to Nineveh is not always easy. Good planning disappears in crisis.

I am a worrier. I worry about things over which I have absolutely no control. My sister, Beverly, wisely counsels “don’t borrow trouble.” She’s a lot better at doing that than I am. Part of what I do professionally is anticipating potential trouble spots, getting in front of them, and addressing them. It takes a worried person to properly anticipate and plan for some things. “Seatbelts! Does everyone have on their seatbelt? What’s the speed limit? Are all my car lights working properly? Is my tire pressure right?”

Those are all rational things to worry about. But many of the things we fret about are not such matters. As the wise man said, we can’t change our height with worry.

WHEN WE find ourselves worrying, we should try to keep our worry in perspective. We should not let worry overwhelm us. We should recognize that life has storms, and storms cause choppy waters that we have to navigate. Holding onto something bigger than ourselves — something we all have near or within us — is a way to get through it. For me, a song by Horatio Spafford from the late 1800s helps do that. He wrote the song after losing all four of his daughters in the sinking of a ship. He was a man after Job’s own heart. I’ll leave you with these words from his fine Gospel song.

When peace like a river

attendeth my way

When sorrows

like sea billows roll

Whatever my lot

Thou hast taught me to say

It is well, it is well

With my soul.

It is well, with my soul,

It is well, with my soul,

It is well, it is well,

with my soul.

© 2009, Jim "Pappy" Moore, All Rights Reserved.

Jim "Pappy" Moore is a a native son of East Texas who still makes the piney woods his home.

oaktreefm58@hotmail.com

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