"These Inward Trials"

My family and I just returned from a wonderful fall vacation to a fabulous state where the colors are spectacular-Wisconsin! I love fall, I love the changing of seasons. I love the colors of the trees as they change from green to yellows, orange, reds and even deep purples. The sad thing about fall is that this beautiful season is so short and after it comes the bitter cold of winter. The driving, bone chilling winds. The ice. The snow. And yet, within most homes the fire roars and there is warmth within despite the bitterness outside. 

I was thinking the other day how much the changing seasons cause the trees in my region to grow. If it was always spring/summer when they are at their fullest in green lushness and they never went through fall and winter, they wouldn't grow. If they didn't face the trials of loosing their beauty in the fall and enduring the pain of winter, they wouldn't shoot forth buds in the spring and be so green and beautiful in the summer. 

Isn't that similar to the Christian's life? When we go through trials we think that God isn't loving or that He's forgotten us or that He's punishing us. Jesus never said that following Him was always going to be grand like spring and summer. He said that a disciple is not above his teacher. His followers shouldn't think that they will have an easy life without trials. Jesus Himself suffered greatly, more than any man ever will. 

"How does God in grace prosecute this purpose? Not by shielding us from assault by the world, the flesh and the devil, not by protecting us from burdensome and frustrating circumstances, nor yet by shielding us from troubles created by our own temperament and psychology; but rather by exposing us to all these things, so as to overwhelm us with a sense of our own inadequacy, and to drive us to cling to Him more closely. This is the ultimate reason, from our standpoint, why God fills our lives with troubles and perplexities of one sort and another: it is to ensure that we shall learn to hold Him fast." -J.I. Packer

So I should take great joy in the fall and winter seasons of my life. Jesus never promised a carefree, burdensome, "happy" life and anyone who says differently is a liar. A life of following Jesus Christ will be full of trials, but He uses them to "ensure that we shall learn to hold Him fast." And in learning to hold Him fast, there is great joy. Joy with eternal significance. 

Aren't the things worth living for more challenging to achieve? Would they be as sweet if they were easy to attain?