Why is life full of challenges (a.k.a. Struggles)?

     Life can be tough. Very tough!  We all face struggles or challenges.  Once you've lived a while (like I have) you are able to look back and review your history.  And when you walk down memory lane, don't think of all those little, insignificant hurdles as being trite.  You (probably) weren't just a whining little baby, those were real struggles at the time, probably the biggest of life to date!
     Sure, when you look back, it all seems so easy... NOW!  But at the time those things were pretty big.  When you were four years old and struggling to tie your laces you may have thought that you would never learn how.  Do you remember the first time that you did tie them by yourself?  Your parent(s) were probably extremely proud.  Why didn't they think of it as nothing?  Why was it a big deal for them?
     No doubt they were excited because now they didn't have to tie your shoes anymore.  And, they were proud because it meant you were growing up, you were learning, you were getting stronger!  They looked forward to every new challenge that you faced, because they loved you and they knew that "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger."  My parents used that expression all the time.  I kept thinking 'what challenges do they want me to face where my life may be on the line?'
    They also knew that as you overcame challenges you wouldn't just get stronger, you would also get braver and more confident in yourself.  It does you no good to be physically strong and emotionally week.  In order for you to survive on your own in the real world you need to have strength in both.  This doesn't mean that you never call your parents or a friend for advice or help.  In fact, knowing when you need to call someone is a sign of emotional strength.

    Two parting thoughts:

• In nature every plant and animal has it's own struggles that make it stronger.  If they didn't have the opportunity to overcome these struggles they would die.  Think of the young butterfly struggling to escape it's chrysalis.  It's said that if you cut open the chrysalis for the butterfly it will perish.  The fight to escape the bondage of the chrysalis is what makes the butterfly strong enough to fly!

•  From the Bible, Job 7:1-7:5 "Is not all human life a struggle? Our lives are like that of a hired hand. like a worker who longs for the shade, like a servant waiting to be paid.  I, too, have been assigned months of futility, long and weary nights of misery. Lying in bed, I think, 'When will it be morning? But the night drags on, and I toss till dawn.  My body is covered with maggots and scabs.  My skin breaks open, oozing with pus. 

I read a story like that of Job and realize that early on in time (about 4,000 years ago) man realized that the struggle makes him stronger, it makes him a survivor, it makes him a better person.