Finding Joy

The Problem with Problems

I was just thinking about all of the things mankind has to deal with. There are many different causes of distress that just the idea of handling all of them overwhelms us. We developed a system of prioritizing problems in order to better contain them.
If she just went into foster care, he didn't get into the college he wanted, she broke her toe, he got divorced, she lost her mom in death, they had a miscarriage, he got evicted, she got food poisoning, he is depressed, she got into a fender bender, she got cut hours and is having a hard time paying bills, a tornado blew their roof off, her toy broke, she fell off her bike, he got stung by a bee, she is stressed, he's sad, they are angry... If all of those people came up to you to unload, in order to better the situation for yourself and for others, you begin to sift through them to find what sounds relatively worse and began there. We can't handle everything. We aren't designed to. But having that shortcoming resulted in us saying some people have it worse than others. Yes, there are situations that are completely horrible while some are more mild. But that means that the milder things get pushed aside and left unaddressed. That concludes in people not getting the proper attention they need to cope with whatever is distressing them. And constantly being told that they're are worse things leaves them feeling unimportant, holding things in and then that matter gets heavier until they snap. Someone once gave this illustration:

They held up a cup with water in it. The audience expected her to ask if the cup was half full or half empty. Instead, she asked them how much they thought it weighed. Maybe 6 ounces, possibly 8? That's not heavy. You can hold that glass easily. But if you hold the cup for a while, keep holding it, 30 minutes, 40 minutes, an hour.. the cup starts to feel heavier. Your arm starts to hurt. Hand begins to cramp.

What happened? Its a lightweight object. Sometimes, it's not about how heavy the cup, or problem is, but about how long that person's been holding onto it. Because that still leaves them in a lot of pain. It just makes me really sad when someone tries to express how they feel, it's met with, "at least it's not this", "there are much worse things", "if so and so can get through this, this, and that, then you'll be fine" instead of just listening to them. That's their world. That's the biggest thing happening in their world. Just because it's not the biggest problem in THE world, doesn't mean it's not a big problem in theirs.

To Jehovah, adultery, idolatry, thievery, lying and murder are all equal ground. Even though we may reason that theft isn't as bad as murder or lying isn't the same as adultery. Unlike us, he can handle hearing all of the problems we face. He believes they all require attention. Because anything that causes even a pinch of tormoil to us, is important to him. He is the happy god and anything that takes away from our happiness even a little bit, he's going to help us through.

Prioritizing problems is a human trait. To Jehovah, we all, no matter what we are going through, deserve his full attention.

I just wish... I don't know... I would love it if people didn't minimize their or other people's problems. To me, they all need attention. Not comparison.