The older I get, the more convinced I become that much of life is about responding.

That’s the because the older I get, the more I see how much of life is actually out of our control. We do what we can to be proactive, prepared, and anticipatory of all different kinds of issues, but none of that preparation will ever make us completely ready for the things that happen to us every day. And every day, nearly without exception, we encounter something unanticipated. Something unexpected. And, in many cases, something troubling.

The question, then, is always how will we respond. What will we do in light of the various trials that come our way through the week? What will we do with the argument in the relationship? With the suddenly disgruntled coworker? With the distressed child or the unexpected financial downturn?

Because the trials are many and varied, it doesn’t do much good, I don’t think, to try and plan out in advance exactly how we will respond in every scenario; that’s a fool’s errand because, again, it’s impossible to know exactly what to expect. But we can make general plans. That is, we can think about the general attitude and posture we want to take whenever these trials come our way.

Now to be clear, by “trials” I do not mean the kinds of trials that truly do upend your life. I don’t mean the trials of tragedy; of life and death; of dramatic realignment. At least for the purposes of this article, I mean “trials” in a smaller sense – those unexpected irritations and interruptions that cause us a measure of grief. What will our disposition be when those inevitably come our way? To this, we look to 1 Peter for some council:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. (1 Peter 1:3-9).