³⁴ You yourselves know that I worked with my own hands to support myself and those who are with me. (Acts 20:24 CSB)

I often look at the people around me and wonder at how hard they work. We all do. Life requires more and more of us. I though, foolishly, that as I got older it would get easier. But life gets more complicated with every passing year it seems.

Now, my approach to life has changed quite a bit. So, while life has gotten harder, I realize I have gotten smarter at living it. In current parlance, I hacked it.

I also, find our use of the word hack quite interesting. I grew up at a time, and with a father, who used the word to mean to endure. Through it all, you learn how to hack (or endure) whatever you are going through. My dad would say, ”put that 2×4 down your spine and hack it.” I knew this meant that I had to tough out what ever I was going through.

Today hacking life is akin to a technology hack. It is meant to find a way to not endure, but to overcome through manipulation. It is often about finding a short cut to life’s many, many nuisances and requirements.

In truth, both descriptions are apt and needed. At times we must simply endure and in ways we also need to find ways to manipulate or move around life’s obstacles. The key is figuring out which way to approach life at any given time.