While on a show in Sante Fe county, the unexpected happened. A man threw a banana peel at Dave Chappelle while he was doing his standup comedy set. As Dave Chappelle narrated the story to a crowd in Texas, he expressed how he felt.
It didn't feel good. It felt bad that an adult would plan and execute such an embarrassing act. The brown banana peel was proof that the man had preserved this peel just to hit Dave.
Expect the Misery
Dave Chappelle may not have expected a banana peel to be thrown at him but I assume he understood that there would always be opposition to what he does. Is it a hate letter, a banana peel, or a tackle on stage? In whatever form or way it was going to happen eventually.
In our lives, mental and physical distress can be caused by self-doubt, isolation, rejection, humiliation, unfairness, despair, or contempt. We must look at this distress as a natural effect of us opening our eyes every day to live. We don't know where it will come from and how but the banana peel sure is coming.
"If they persecuted me they'll persecute you also," Jesus warned his disciples. He was preparing his disciples, telling them to expect misery from rejection and bodily harm. And for sure it came.
Is it Easy Because We Know it's Coming?
It might feel like a waste of time what you have read so far. It's rather obvious that we have felt distressed in our relationships, careers, and lives, right? Aren't we old enough to know that is expected? Even a teenager would ask.
Somehow it never gets easy. We know it's coming but it's always like a bullet train just hit us. The soldier has been trained to thrive in misery, he takes pride in it. He knows that war is hell. Still, the frontline battle is not easy.
We know the misery train is coming. That awareness helps us recognise what hit us and avoid being disoriented. "All this I have told you so that you will not go astray," Jesus told his disciples.
Don't be destructed by difficulty and forget why you first loved, first believed, and first dreamt. If your dreams are derailed because of affliction, then maybe you never had a dream in the first place.
Grief Will Turn to Joy, Thy Kingdom Come
John 16:20-21
20 ...You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. 21 A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.
Jesus reminded his disciples that their grief will be momentary until God's will is accomplished. Adversity has a time frame. A time when your wits, dreams, patients, and faith is tested.
The clock of trouble moves slow; the pace of a slug. Mental distress kicks in and it feels like it will never end. We feel hated and hate ourselves, anxious, restless, unloved, unloveable, isolated, or unmotivated. It feels like hell.
It is easy to be destructed by today until tomorrow seems far-fetched. The truth is we will persevere and the anguish will pass. "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death..." Jesus spoke these words before He fulfilled His purpose on earth. As He prayed He found strength in God and did God's will and was later glorified.
You might be at your weakest, the last push is the toughest. The resistance is at its peak. Fear of another failure is choking you. Fear of poverty overwhelming you. These labour pains will pass and your anguish will be a thing of the past.
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