Don’t Run Away from Hard (04/07/2025)

He has a special place in my mind, my heart, and my life. As the parish pastor, he had a whole flock to tend to so I never thought he would miss me. But he did. He noticed that I wasn’t there. And he came to find me and taught me the important lesson that I should not run away from hard.

We were living in Beloit. One thing after another had piled up in my life: financial struggles, my husband’s long hours at work, the needs of my three children under the age of 4, and my cancer. I don’t know if he knew the last one, but it was shortly after I found out that he appeared at my door. When I answered the door, he simply said, “I’ve missed you. Can I come in and talk with you for a few minutes?”

I let him in, got him a glass of ice tea, and we sat down to talk. The three kids were playing on the floor with their toys. Almost instantly, I admitted to him that I struggling and told him of the things on my plate. He nodded and said, “This has got to be hard. But you can’t run away from hard.”

In the next half hour, he instructed me in Christ’s way – face the difficulty, commit it to the LORD, and allow the LORD to equip me to handle it. “Let God guide you through this and allow the community to support you and you will find that these things are stepping stones and not stumbling blocks.”

That day, with his help, I did begin that journey of bringing my life, especially the “hard” parts to the LORD, I did try harder to let others accompany me along the way, and I did find that the challenges helped me to “step up.” “Hard” isn’t the game breaker I used to think it was. Thank you, Fr. Schubiger.

As we make this spiritual journey to life in abundance with the LORD, we will often find ourselves in hard times dealing with hard issues. Let us allow the community to support us. Let us bring these hard issues to the LORD and commit them to the LORD and allow the LORD to transform them into “stepping stones” along the way. And let us remain vigilant so that we see our sisters and brothers struggling with "hard" and stop to help them along the way.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.