Yesterday I was talking with my ds18 about the potential of life’s challenges to help a person grow.  Just a couple of hours later, I got the following message in my inbox:

“Life does not accommodate you; it shatters you. Every seed destroys its container, or else there would be no fruition.”   Florida Scott-Maxwell

It was a timely message for me!  This quote sounds somewhat negative until you realize that it’s by having our perception of our limitations of what we can be and who we are broken, that we can grow beyond that.  Every difficult and painful situation is a chance to become more of who we are meant to be, to grow into the person we are capable of becoming.

Don’t think I’m idealizing challenges – actually, I ask to be shown how I need to grow in a gentle way without pain – but at least intellectually, I know that everything in life is a gift and that even the tough stuff is a kindness because it gives me a chance to be more than I think I can be.  And like all of you, every day I have opportunities to stretch that intellectual understanding and internalize it emotionally a tiny bit more!

Avivah