What defines us is how well we rise after falling

Pain, suffering and stress are the admission tickets to the game of life. But what would life be like without them? In a world without hurdles, there are no champions; without suffering, there are no saints; without battles, there are no victories; without rain, no rainbows.  Isn't a world that includes pain is more rewarding than one that doesn’t?  Haven’t we all heard of the ‘Refiner’s fire”?  Isn’t an intense heat necessary to produce gold, pressure and polishing necessary to produce diamonds and adversity necessary to produce character?

Here’s how Henry Ford expressed the same sentiment: Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help us in our marching onward.

Each of us needs to recognize stress and difficulties for what they are:  opportunities to lift ourselves to a higher level.Sailors caught in a storm should prayer not for safety from danger, but for deliverance from fear. Why should they accept the storm?  Because a smooth sea never made a skillful mariner.

When an eagle believes her eaglets are large enough to learn how to fly, she begins to take apart the nest and push the eaglets out. After this rude awakening, the eaglets discover they have wings! They can fly! The universe is constantly nudging us, pushing us off one cliff after another, in the hope that one day we, too, will discover our wings and soar to new heights.

All of us make will make mistakes that will bring our world to a halt but we need to face our fear and let the circumstance mold our character.  We’ll be better because of it.