Ecclesiastes 3:10  "I have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it"

I have seen...  The book of Ecclesiastes was written by King Solomon, the wisest man in history.  He had traveled far and wide looking for the meaning of life.  And this verse is one of many where he lays out what he has seen and observed.

the travail...  The word "travail" is often used to refer to childbirth and the pains of labor.  When I try to define this term I find myself using words like pain, hard work, and suffering.  When we had our first child I would definitely have added the word scary!  When I was going through my labor it was the only thing I could think about or focus on.

Times of trial can be described in very much the same way.  They are painful.  They are scary.  The situation you are in becomes the filter through which you view everything else in life.

BUT....travail has a purpose or a desired outcome.  It doesn't last forever; it has a definite ending time.  And our trials are very much the same.  When God sends a trial to my life, He does have a specific purpose He is trying to accomplish through it.  He always has the desired outcome in mind that I would be refined and drawn closer to Him through it.  And no matter how overtaken and downcast I am during the trial, I know that they really do not last forever.

Sometimes my trial or travail is life-encompassing and I know that it is going to change the whole course of my life.  At other times my trials are just little bumps in the path but they do grab MY attention.  Whether illness or catastrophe or just a "down in the dumps" day, I am so glad to know that it will not last forever, and God has some designed purpose for my day!