Okay, I admit. I am a dental coward. I'm not a coward in all things. Snakes don't scare me a lot. Calories don't scare me at all. I love old black-and-white Dracula and Frankenstein movies. I will watch the black-and-white original of Night of the Living Dead as often as TCM plays it. (The newer color version lacks the original's oomph!) Nope, I'm not scared of all things. But, I am terrified of dentists. Maybe it's the sound of the drill. Maybe it's the memory of times past when the Novacane hadn't fully taken hold yet. Maybe it's the mental picture of Steve Martin and Bill Murray in Little Shop of Horrors. I don't know.
Some time ago I had to have my second root canal. I had survived the first one, so I knew it could be done. In fact, the most painful thing about it had been the anticipation. Nonetheless, when the second time rolled around, I feared the first might have been a fluke. What if I had just happened to trip across the world's only gentle endodontist that time, and now it would be different? That’s when this new guy whom I had never met turned on his scary little drill, leaned over my mechanically pried open mouth, looked into my eyes, and said: "Just remember – This too shall pass." I was not comforted. (In his defense, it didn't hurt at all.)
The dentist was quoting the Sufi poet, Sanai (and lots of others since): "This too shall pass." It's really a piece of wisdom we ought not ignore. We cannot always control the events that bring stress or anxiety. But, we can appeal to the wisdom of experience. Stresses have always come and gone. They are inevitable, but they are not eternal. They always pass.
When I served a lovely downtown church in the mountains of NC, there was a woman in the congregation who often shared what she called "her survival mantra." It's a piece of advice she gave herself when the heat was on. She also offered it to her kids when they were worried. She shared it with her friends or minister when we were experiencing anxious times. Her advice was built on a lifetime of experience and a heart full of homegrown wisdom. She would say: "It'll get better, or it'll get over." Say the phrase, and it makes you grin. Listen to it, and it makes you think. "It'll get better, or it'll get over." "This too shall pass."
Sometimes it takes that wisdom to survive the pains of any current day. Tough times come, but they do not last forever. Most of the time, all we are called to do is simply outlast them. When we come to the end of our ropes, just tie a knot and hang on till the storm is over. Because in time, it will be over. Paul told his friends to "stand firm in your faith" (I Corinthians 16:13), knowing that if we hang on during the tough times, "This too shall pass."
With all the understandable recent concerns over the vacillating stock market, I recalled some advice from a broker I used to know. He said: "Fears about the market are just for those who buy and sell today. Market success is about hanging on for the long term." I'm not a financier, but as an observer of life and a student of Christian theology, I think that broker was on target. When heartaches and hardships hover, often we survive by focusing on the long term, by standing firm in our faith and simply remembering, "This too shall pass."