“I can do everything through Him who strengthens me.”

So said St. Paul, referring to finding contentment whilst in need or with plenty.

Oh, and he was in prison at the time. A prison in Ancient Rome no less. We might call it a dungeon.

How did Paul achieve his contentment through Christ? Good question, right? It’s easy enough to say, “Just trust in Christ.” But practically, how do we make this happen.

As I reflect on this, I guess I have to say, “I don’t know.”

This is me talking, not St. Paul, but I think there is a mindset that we have to adopt. Here are some of the particulars from Philippians four.

• Be joyful. In spite of external stimuli.
• Be thankful. In spite of external stimuli.
• Be prayerful. In response to external stimuli.

In another place (II Corinthians 12) Paul said he had a “thorn in the flesh” and he asked, nay, pleaded with the Lord to remove it. The Lord responded, “My grace is sufficient for you.” Paul goes on to say, essentially, that when he is weak, or where he is weak, then he has to rely on the Lord. He has to find his strength in the Lord. When he relies on the Lord’s strength, and not his own, then he’s stronger than ever.

In Acts 16, while ministering in Philippi (this is the Philippian church origin story) Paul and his buddy Silas were arrested, beaten, and thrown in jail without trial. This in spite of their citizenship, the rights of which forbade this kind of treatment.

While lying in the prison cell (read, dungeon), they began to sing with joy. This was around midnight. Next thing you know, there’s an earthquake, the doors are open, and they very well could’ve walked right out. Instead, they presented themselves to the guard (who was about to commit hari-kiri), and then accepted his offer of hospitality and spent the rest of the night in his home.

The next day the local magistrates released Paul and Silas (not without a little drama, which I won’t go into here).

Can we find the wherewithal to be thankful when things are bad? Can we sing praise when in pain, insulted, put upon, dissed, etc.? What do we miss out on when we don’t.

This blog was originally a blog a track my progress training for triathlons and other endurance events. I know to improve your times swimming, cycling, running, whatever, you have to endure a bit of discomfort, maybe even pain, depending on how you perceive it. Your body then responds, strengthening those systems that are weak.

Perhaps hard times (whatever you think that to be) are our long tempo runs. Our sprints, our hard swims, those last few reps of pushups when you’re trying to max out.

I wrote the above yesterday. As I reflect on it today, I think it’s too simplistic.

Perhaps we cannot tap into that power that gives us strength to endure without being joyful, thankful, and prayerful. There are lots of people who don’t even like working out (can you believe that?), and they hate the soreness that develops after hard exercise.

Some of us like that soreness. It lets us know we worked hard enough, and now we’re growing. Can we think of emotional pain the same way? Can we think of financial difficulties the way we think about a good workout?

So maybe it’s not just that we’re going through a difficult time, but that we’re choosing joy in spite of it. If we don’t, we’re missing out on the true benefit of the trial.