“Bad things” vs “Hard things”

Many times when some difficulty, trial, or tragedy strikes, somewhere we might hear the question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”

This past week as I studied the book of Job in the bible, many of his friends ask the same thing of him.

But what is bad?

is it bad to lose a job but to humble yourself and learn a new skill or trade or be open to moving somewhere else where new opportunities are?

Is it bad when we are hit with a disease or an accident that teaches us patience, helps us learn to love someone more as we care for them, or causes us to to turn to God for comfort?

Are any of our daily trials, struggles, or difficulties really bad, if in the end they make us a stronger, better, more forgiving, trusting, insightful, or loving person

Can something really be that bad if it causes us to be better in the end?

I think it may be better to talk about “hard or difficult things happening to good people” rather than “bad things”.

Life can be hard, but it is during those hard times that we learn who we are, develop eternal traits, and become more like Jesus Christ. In truth, we learn more during our difficult times than our good times.

Any trial we face can be very difficult and hard in the moment, but in the end if it makes us better, more like our Father in Heaven then it is not a bad thing. Our Father uses or allows trials/difficulties to make us into the type of person that will be able to live with him again.

Just like any athlete or musician will attest, it is the grueling hours of practice and discipline and hard work that help them to be better.

Job recognized this when he said, “But he knoweth the way that I take; When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as Gold.”

“No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God . . . and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire and which will make us more like our Father and Mother in heaven.”

Orson F. Whitney

None of us will escape hard or difficult times in life, but instead of looking at them as “bad”, let’s see what we can learn from them, and how we can be better for them.

We can all do hard things!