the musings of this nigerian gal

‭James 1:2 NKJV‬
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials.

I think James’ choice of words is quite peculiar.

Fall.

Various trials.

How many of you have ever had a graceful fall?

You know, you are walking on the street like you own every building on the sidewalk, when your ankle suddenly decides to twist and oops, you are on the floor.

Embarrassment always follows on the heels of a fall…you know, like pride comes before a fall — but that is not the fall I am talking about, forgive my derailing.

So, yes, we were talking about James’s choice of words.

Life can be hard. Tough. Unfair. List all the adjectives that comes to your mind on the nights when it looks like you are about to be swallowed up alive.

And James, without so much of a leave, just acknowledged the fact that most times when the troubles of life comes, we are hardly standing, all geared up, waiting for it to do it’s worst.

No, these trials always hit us blindsided. Smacks us downside-up.

His choice of the word, fall, suggests that when we are faced with these storms, things are without doubt about to get messy. So so messy you’ll probably feel like you are losing your mind. So much so it hurts to cry, and yet tears are the only response your eyes can give.

Falling…various trials.

Not once.

Not twice.

Not thrice.

Various.

In a rodeo, there’s this game where a cowboy rides a mad bull for as long minutes as he can afford to hang on till the bull throws him.

Life can feel like that bull. But we don’t have to get thrown to our death. We don’t have to be swallowed in a losing battle. We don’t have to be immersed in despair.

Indeed, we can lean into the one who is always with us, despite the wild bucking going on underneath us.

And that is why James says we should count it all joy. Because we have a choice in the matter and we can choose to trust.

Through the ride, things may hardly make sense. But you can rest in the knowledge that the Omniscient, the one who knows all, who knows the heads and tails of everything in this life loves you, and he will never let you go.