Value In Hardship

Value in Hardship

This thought arrested my thinking just now – there is value in hardship.  It made me pause, reflect and ponder my own life.  I’ve had hardships, and I can see an overarching value in everything I’ve endured.

These ‘hard’ events have happened in my life

~In 1980 I awakened to 1/3 of my back yard having washed away down the ravine behind my house.

~2 divorces

~Bankruptcy

~My dream job was within my grasp and was taken away eight months later.

~Marriage to someone who relapsed on a drug addiction

~Heart bypass surgery

So, the big question … where’s the value in all of these life experiences?

They don’t have much of a connecting link that I can see.  Just some random life events that I’ve had to endure. 

But what I do see is this … I’ve made it through all of these experiences thus far.  I am a survivor. 

I thought the world ended when my back yard disappeared.  I could not see the next step for a few days.  Somehow, I managed to figure out a fix and moved on.  We fixed the yard with a government loan, and paid it off when I sold the house.

Divorces and the bankruptcy were no fun, but I made it through those as well.  I survived.

The drug experience addiction with my second wife was a very difficult time.  I didn’t think I would ever see the end of that one.  But it too ended. 

That was extremely hard. 

Heart bypass was hard too, but harder, I think, on Carolyn than me.  All I had to do was endure a bit of pain and lay round and let my body recover.  CB had to play nurse-maid, cook and bottle washer and major care-giver for a good while.

So, what have I learned?

I said it up front.  I am a survivor.  I have survived these hardships. 

How did I managed to survive this stuff and where did this strength to survive come from?

Of course, first I give credit to God for His mysterious strength and intestinal fortitude that He gave me in those moments. 

Second, we humans have an incredible capacity for survival, if we can tune into it.  I don’t know how we do these incredible feats of recovery and conquering.  All I know is this … by God’s amazing design, we can find the strength to march through hard times.  We don’t ask for this stuff to happen.  We don’t order it from Amazon.  It sometimes just happens.

And we manage to cope and survive.

To all you survivors out there, whether it be adventures like I’ve experienced, or your own stories of hard times and hard places, you have come through these times, because you are reading my words.  And if you are still in the throes of a difficult place, take hope that others like you have come through tough times too and you can make it.

If you need help, seek it.  Ask.

If you have a faith community you trust, let them be your partners for whatever services and support they can offer.

If you pray, then seek the God who hears and answers.

And trust your own ability to overcome.  You may not see it today, but I believe it lies within. 

If you write to me, I will pray for you.

This is my

morning reflection.

Morning Notes Blog Site

P Michael Biggs

Words of Hope

Encouragement

Inspiration

Weeds Need to Die

-->

Weeds Need to Die

I hate weeding.  That is a thankless task, until I’m finished weeding. 

You can’t be lackluster when it comes to weeding.  You either get those suckers and dig them out, or pull them out, or chop off their above ground body parts or they will mock you tomorrow. 

Got weeds?  Got stuff in your life that needs digging out?  Got bad habits that must be eliminated?  They are sort of like weeds only worse.  You have to go on the attack.  You have to get aggressive with weeds and bad habits. 

It’s a battle of do or die.

Think about that for more than a minute.

This is my

morning reflection.

Morning Notes Blog Site

P Michael Biggs

Words of Hope

Encouragement

Inspiration

Uncertain People

Uncertain People

Are you an uncertain person?  It’s okay if you are.  Most successful individuals and almost all pathfinders are uncertain people. 

Think about that for a moment.  At the very heart of uncertainty lies an explorer. 

“Where are you going” we ask. 

“Out there somewhere.”

“And what will you find?”

“I don’t know for certain.  I’ll know it when I see it.”

It’s the thrill of discovery that pushes them along. 

Think of the vast team of individuals who helped Neil Armstrong walk on the moon.  They were uncertain about a lot of that experience.  Oh my, they had their mathematical formulas, their slide rules and their hopes and dreams, but there was a huge amount of uncertainty bound up in all of that speculation.  And one fine day, a once uncertain Neil Armstrong walked on that heavenly body we call Earth’s Moon. 

When I started blogging, I was uncertain if I would garner a following.  After all, I was yet one more voice in the blogging world and I was a nobody.  Nine and a half years later and six blog sites later, I’m approaching 500,000 clicks and am read in over 130 countries.  Scary?  You bet.  Glad I am doing it?  You bet.

I hope you find the courage to face your uncertain opportunities when they come along.  You can be assured of a few things.  Someone somewhere will tell you you’re crazy and it can’t be done, at least by you.  You’ll talk yourself into and out of that dream a hundred times before you launch it and before it becomes a success. 

But launch it you must. 

Go ahead.  Show us that the uncertain can really become certain.

This is my

morning reflection.

Morning Notes Blog Site

P Michael Biggs

Words of Hope

Encouragement

Inspiration