by Rich DuBose
By the time we reach adulthood each of us has a “working” relationship with trouble. Not because we want to, but because it keeps showing up at our door.
Whether we’re young, middle-aged, or old; whether we are good or bad, ugly or good-looking, rich or poor, trouble has been to our house.
If you don’t have any trouble right now, celebrate your good fortune, because this too shall pass. With its own traveling “road show,” trouble is the unwelcome guests that moves from city to city and house to house, looking for ways to “boogie” into people’s lives.
The blues is a genre of music that’s born out of trouble, with the inspiration for the songs being drawn from life’s crucible of cheating lovers, sickness, death, failure, remorse, poverty, and greed.
Blues songs aren’t about hope. Their purpose is to wallow in remorse and fear, and if you can put those wailing lyrics into a catchy tune, you’ve got an epic downer.
The good thing about trouble is that it can’t hold us down forever. Every day when the sun rises, the dark shadows of the night have no choice but to flee and melt away. Light is the antidote for darkness, and being in the light of God’s love is healing. Also, if we pay attention, trouble can actually teach us how to be hopeful.
“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing” (James 1:2-4, NLT).
There’s gotta be a song in there somewhere.
Rich DuBose writes from Northern California |
On the web at: richdubose.com. All Rights Reserved © 2025. Join me on Blue Sky @spiritrenew.bsky.social.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.