In western culture, we grow up thinking hard is bad.
And with that, we learn to run away from pain-avoiding it at all costs, afraid of what may happen if we let our guard down.
My friend, let's get rid of this misconception first and foremost:
hard is not bad.
Hard is not pleasant either, but hard is necessary for growth. Think about the seasons...Winter comes as a dry period-trees lose their leaves, plants wither away, but in this process new growth breaks through by Springtime...
Or have you ever discovered the significance of metamorphis; a process when catapillars undergo a period of radical change. In a metaphorical sense, being in the "cacoon stage" is uncomfortable and sufferable. Yet for dramatic, transformative change to occur, suffering is inevitable-pain gives birth to something new-bringing out a stunning creature both beautifully bold and free to fly...
For grapes to be made into wine, crushing is necessary. For gold to be purified, extreme heat-far beyond comfortable degrees-is necessary. For rock to be made into diamond, refining is necessary. You get the idea (;
There is beauty in difficult times; you are growing.
Courage is birthed, IF you allow hardship to refine you.
*****
We all have that person, someone we look up to immensely and aim to be like one day; admiring who they are, whether it be their quirks, their kindness, their confidence.
[think about it: Who do you admire, and why?]
Little do we know of their battle scars; the times that refined them into people we admire today. I'd bet they weren’t always the people we know now.
Greatness looks easy, but it takes sacrifice. It takes enduring times of refinement.
The gold we see in other people has been refined-forged by flame.
You may be thinking ,
“If this process is painful, why would I want to go through it?”
We all want to be great, we want to be the person we were made to be, we want to live out our full potential, but we don’t want to go through pain. Even still, against our preferences, growth never comes from comfort. We must learn to embrace discomfort, and understand that we can find our potential on the other side of our pain.
To become
the person you were made to be
requires courage to
endure the refining process…