Life Meets Doctrine

It is always harder to live in the middle of something than it is to live at the beginning or the end.  When you are at the beginning of something, you are filled with a sense of hope and potential.  You are engaged by a vision of all that can be.  People at the start of something tend to be dreams; they want to get started fulfilling the dream.  People at the end tend to be filled with relief, gratitude, and a sense of accomplishment.  The hardships along the way don’t seem so hard anymore.  The sacrifices all seem worth it, and they are glad the work is over.

People in the middle usually discover that more work is involved than they ever expected.  It is hard to hold onto the dream, and very often expectation becomes the desire to simply survive.  Amidst the hard work, it is difficult to keep your standards high and your hope alive.  You are tempted to settle and compromise.  In the middle, thankfulness often degrades into complaint, and hope decays into resignation.  It is hard to live in the middle of something, but that is exactly where all of our relationships take place.