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.

Take your own advice!

So many times I have found myself offering advice to friends and family ... usually unsolicited.  But the other day I was recanting in my head a conversation with my brother and realized I was being a hypocrite.

On a recent phone conversation with my brother I was providing him with some great tips on how to eat healthier and get more exercise.  He is not the type to open up too much, so I am quite sure that he hadn't asked me for any help.  Being someone who loves him very much though I felt compelled to shower him with my wisdom!

I mean I really love my brother and I want him to live a long healthy life which is why I was recanting the conversation.  All the time wondering "was he listening?", "what could I have said differently that would have resounded in his mind and motivated him to take action?"

Then I realized, I've been trying to get in shape and lose 20 pounds ... FOR FIVE YEARS!   Why am I preaching to my brother, I need to be preaching to the mirror!  Who am I to offer advice?  I barely passed my annual physical and get winded walking up the stairs to the third floor at my office!

I often listen to a recorded lecture by Jim Rohn and remember him saying "some of you are asking 'Mr. Rohn, how is this stuff working for you?' ... well ... listen to me very closely, but don't watch to carefully!"  Mr. Rohn was a great "preacher" of a philosophy on how to live a successful life.  And even Mr. Rohn was having trouble following all of his own advice.

Unsolicited advice is usually hard to hear and even harder to follow!  How many doctors, nurses and fireman do you know that smoke ... don't they know better?  Aren't they always telling people not to smoke? How many police officers and legal gun owners are injured by their own weapons or fireworks each year due to their own lack of judgement or missteps?  Hmm?

Well the good news for my brother is that I will try not to offer him any unsolicited advice anymore (emphasis on "try") and I will start to heed my own advice.  Those twenty pounds are coming off by Christmas 2015!

Be like a sandcastle!

I think that we should all be like sandcastles.

You've been to the beach, right.  You're laying there getting all golden because it's sunny and relaxing.  You are having a great day!   Then your kids ask you to build a sandcastle with them.  Little did they know that you've been waiting for them to ask (you packed a "pro" sandcastle kit in your beach bag)!  The tide is out and everyone is having fun as you start to build something magical.  But you aren't paying attention, you're just building away.  Everyone is getting into the "build" and, in fact, you are probably building the greatest sandcastle of your lives!  You're proud of yourself and you know that your kids couldn't be more impressed ... 'cuz you got some mad sandcastle skills!

Fast forward one hour ...

You're still not paying attention, the tide has come in and all of a sudden ...Crash! An unexpected and giant wave comes in, soaking you, washing away your sandcastle and some of your professional grade sandcastle building tools.

What do you do? Do you pack up and go home?  Maybe.  Do you never go back to the beach again? Unlikely, you love the beach.  Do you NEVER build another sandcastle as long as you live?  NO ... that would be stupid.

YOU BEGIN AGAIN!  It may not be until next weekend (surely you need time to literally lick the salt from your proverbial wounds).  But you DO COME BACK to the beach and you DO START OVER!  You've now got experience, you now know about tides, you're now thinking of ways to better protect your creation (Portland cement maybe?).

I've heard the expression "life is a beach" ... but I prefer to think of life as the ocean.  There are waves, some of them pretty big and they will knock you down.  But you need to be like a sandcastle.  Even after the waves (life) has washed the sandcastle (you) away ... everything and more is still there!  All the sand and rocks are still there, PLUS, you now have experience!.  Be a sandcastle!