But it's not *FAIR*.

What's not fair, you ask?  Nothing is fair.  Life is not fair.  I think we probably all know that.

What we fail to realize is that life is not supposed to be fair.  We are not owed fairness.  However, we still whine and cry when, time after time, life wrongs us.  You know what?  That's life.  See above paragraph.

I know kids whine.  I've got three of them.  The most popular gripes tend to be:

1.  This is boring.
2.  I'm SO hungry.
3.  That's not FAIR!

I vividly remember my first lesson from my father regarding the subject of "fairness".  I was in middle school.  This was back when it was still permissible to separate classes according to academic ability.  Without trying to sound like this a brag in any way, shape, or form, I was in the highest academic group.  It just so happened that the people in that class were also, according to our teachers, among the chattiest of all the students.  We were constantly receiving comments from them like, "You guys shouldn't act like this.  You should know better.  Stop talking!"  It wasn't fair.  We were all 11 and 12 years old.  Sure we shouldn't have been talking, but none of the other classes were held to the same standards as we were, and it was just downright unfair.

One night, a few weeks into the year, I went home and complained about it to my dad.  I told him of the injustice, how the teachers expected better behavior from us just because we were the "smart" kids.  I told him that we were just kids too, and we couldn't be expected to be perfect all of the time.  He listened to my tirade, and then he did the unthinkable.  He sided with the teachers.  To drive the point home, he opened up his Bible and read me this verse:

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. ~Luke 12:48

Zing.  Dad was right.  And so were those darn teachers.  Turns out, what wasn't "fair" to me, was the blessing (and curse to an 11 year old) of being able to discern right from wrong, and I was charged with following through on that.

I have a host more of things to say about this topic, but in the interest of getting back to work, I will simply say this.  Life isn't fair.  Sure, some people may be handed things on silver platters, but that's not the norm.  Not everyone is born in good health, with complete mental capacity, with a clear complexion, with the ability to articulate, with the use of their limbs, or even with limbs at all.  For those who seem to have it all, there is the burden of expectation and follow-through, and the moral obligation to do right by their successes.  We learn every day about loved ones and friends losing jobs, losing their homes, falling ill, getting kicked right in the butt when they're already down.  Sometimes in life, we think things are going great but then the poo (if you will) hits the fan, and then things are not so great anymore.  Life has ups and it has downs.  Sometimes it has a lot more of the latter.

How can you appreciate the sunshine if you haven't seen the rain?

It is important to remember that when things get tough, chances are someone else has been in your exact situation before and made it through.  It is even more important to remember that in the toughest of times, there is hope.  Even in the toughest of times, we fall under the blanket of God's grace.  Life is still better than we deserve.  I've said it before and I will say it until the day I die.  Thank God we *don't* get what we deserve.  The next time you think, "It's not fair."  Do me a favor.  Reconsider.