Trials are Neutral, Attitudes Are Not

00000000000000000000005172738045

“Trails are challenges to be learned from and overcome. They are mini-universities and scientific laboratories meant to instruct and refine.” ~KW

The trials and challenges of life don’t necessarily do us good or harm. They’re neutral. They don’t care how you react to them. They don’t care if they refine you or bury you in the ashes of a failed life.

Some people, of course, get crushed by difficulty, like so many boulders smashing the life and kindness right out of them. They turn bitter and sour and hateful. They lose faith and friends and happiness.

Others experience the same difficulties and are softened by them, becoming more compassionate, patient and determined. Some even become saint-like.

But why the difference? Why are some people destroyed by life while others are made better, sharpened, the rough edges smoothed and polished?

Attitude

How we deal with the adversities of life is much more important and life-changing than the nature of the adversity itself. I can get angry at life and curse God for my losses, or I can learn from them, grow because of them and be appreciative of that growth. One makes me bitter even when surrounded by beauty. The other makes me happy even when life is not behaving so nicely.

So next time life smacks you down, instead of condemning it for the sucker punch it sneaked in, look for the opportunity or lesson or insight it’s hiding in the very pain and throb on the chin it provided.

See the good in the bad, the light in the darkness. That attitude will make all the difference in how you experience life’s adversities.

It will forever change how challenges are dealt with and in what shape you end up on the other side of the trial.

Photo credit