Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Embracing Adversity


On our trip last week, my 11 year-old son was digging in the sand and trying to keep the waves from washing away his creation. In order to do this, he tried to build a wall around his structure.

But each time a wave would come, it would wash away part of the wall. Nothing he could do could prevent this.

The thing that I noticed is that each time he built his wall, it would have jagged edges. And each time the wave came it would smooth out the rough spots and make it look a lot nicer.

If that isn’t a metaphor for life, I don’t know what is. I thought about the tough experiences I have gone through. It was during those times when I got better...when I grew.

I'm sure you've heard the old saying, "you can be bitter or better"-well it's true. Adversity can be like the waves of the ocean…it can smooth out our rough edges and make us better.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

How neat! You'll remember this forever! How many hours did it take? Reminds us of our trip to Myrtle Beach and our sand castle experience. We had bets going on what time it would be till it was washed away. cpbeck

Jim Lange said...

Con and Peggy, you are right--it was very cool to watch. Great memories. Thanks for the encouragement!

Jim

Rick said...

You are the KING of metaphors my friend. This is a good one, too. I can totally relate. We need to embrace the waters washing over us sometimes, instead of trying to battle them in futility.

Jim Lange said...

Rick, you are TOO kind!