One of the nation’s most popular recordings nearly 70 years ago was Doris Day’s “Que Sera, Sera.” The title is from the Spanish “Lo que será, será” meaning “what will be, will be.”

In the lyrics a young girl asks her mother about her future and whether she will be pretty or rich. “Que sera, sera…” her mother replies, “…the future’s not ours to see… whatever will be, will be.”

I thought of these lyrics after a conversation with a group of friends. We agreed that it is best that when we are young we don’t know our future.

Life, of course, is a mixture of joys and sorrows. Some folks experience more of one than the other and by middle age most people will have become well acquainted with both.

The facts are simple ­– (a) we cannot know the future; (b) we can make decisions that will help us avoid some heartaches in the future; but (c) some adversity will come to each life.

Que será, será.

While I have been blessed in many ways over the years I have known both good times and tough times. I prefer the former but recognize that the latter is what has shaped me — for better or for worse — into the person I am today.

Poet Robert Browning put it this way: “I walked a mile with Pleasure, She chatted all the way, But left me none the wiser For all she had to say. I walked a mile with Sorrow, And ne’er word said she But, oh, the things I learned from her When Sorrow walked with me!”

Que será, será.

Better than giving our children the foreknowledge of what their lives will bring is to equip them with the skills and emotional stamina to handle whatever life might bring.

Parents who overprotect their children and fight all of their battles for them do their kids a disservice by not allowing them to build an inner strength that will carry them through difficult times in the future. An old African proverb says, “Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.”

I was fortunate to be raised in a home where we kids fought many of our own battles. We learned from our mother a faith-based tenacity that saw us through difficult times. I learned that surviving tough times requires doing whatever we can and then turning over the rest to God.

If God brings us to it, it is said, He will bring us through it. That’s bumper sticker theology, but I have no doubt that when we have the faith to trust God to help us through a difficult time, He hears us.

My father was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease at the age of 40 and for years I prayed daily that Dad would be healed of his debilitating illness. Though God did not answer my prayers as I would have preferred, he did heal my father when He took Dad to his eternal home. And He gave our family the grace and strength to get through the difficult times that came with the illness.

Of course, prayer is not just a 911 call. Satchel Paige once said, “Don’t pray when it rains if you don’t pray when the sun shines.”

A longtime friend wrote to me about her battle with cancer. When she was waiting for her second mammogram, she wrote, she sat in the waiting room shaking and crying, terrified of what the doctors would find. Encouraged by a book her pastor had given her, before her surgery she prayed and “turned all my fear and concern over to God.” She added, “It has been an awesome journey.”

When my wife died so unexpectedly nine years ago I was devastated. I thought my world had ended.

Though things never fully return to normal after a loss like that, the passing of time does begin to resemble normal. I remember reading a booklet about loss that said we could choose to be bitter or to be better. I chose the latter.

While I never want to go through that heartache again, God has blessed me beyond my expectations over the past nine years.

Oh, the things I learned from her When Sorrow walked with me!

Even the seemingly most privileged individuals will face adversity at one time or another. The key to a contented life is knowing how to truly enjoy the good times and how to rise above difficult times.

Que será, será.