Letter From the Editor
By Josh Beaudoin
I used to think my ultimate goal in life was to be happy. I wanted to get married, find a nice job that resulted in minimal stress, and live a life of blissful contentment on the side of a mountain. Now, I don’t think that’s horribly overrated.
Over the past couple of years, I have made a series of decisions that made me very uncomfortable. I have endured sleepless nights, a stomach that refused to eat, and hundreds of hours of emotional distress. Every time I made one of those decisions, eventually the stress would die down and I would think to myself, “My goodness, wouldn’t it be nice if I just accepted the progress I’ve made and enjoyed life for a while?”
Then I would get restless, because even when I was happy, there was something inside me that said this was not ideal. The fantasy of blissful contentment neither existed, nor did I want it to. So, I would repeat the cycle, making another stress-inducing decision. This time, however, the stress I felt was a little bit more barrable. Each time I pushed myself, I became stronger, and the burden lighter to bare.
From those experiences, I have come to the conclusion that while I might have once wanted a life of blissful contentment, I now understand that the best life is one where I am constantly striving to be my ideal self.
Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” [1] Sometimes, in pursuit of our ideal self, we must carry a heavy cross. We may hate it, and it will be excruciating at times, but from my experience, it is worth it.
As I look back at every time I made a tough decision, I think I would do it again because of the person I am now. I am very proud of who I have become, and I am only here because I decided that a cross was better than a wasted life.
References
1. Matthew 16:24
