THE REFINING FLAMES OF TRIBULATION Four years ago I met with the family of a troubled youth I was helping. They fled Somalia where the mother had been forced to watch her husband be hung and mutilated, one of her sons beheaded, and her daughter raped and eviscerated. With her oldest son and her youngest (my client who was a toddler at the time), they escaped to a neighboring country where they survived under a tree for a few years. That widowed mother lost and endured so much, and yet I perceived not an ounce of bitterness in her. When we ended our second session she kissed my hand with reverence and gratitude. I was deeply humbled in the presence of such a holy person. Job, an allegory? Most likely not. Known or unknown, countless people from ages past to the present are living testaments to our ability to emerge from hardship as better human beings. Whereas some let the flames of tribulation engulf their very soul in bitterness and despair, others allow the same flames to refine their soul. “The harder the life, the finer the person,” British desert explorer Sir Wilfred Thesiger used to say. Without opposition there really can be no growth. Without hardship there can be no self-refining. Unfortunately, the path to our Greater Self is covered with necessary pain and sorrow. Pitying ourselves only hinders our innate ability to adapt and make progress.
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 04:21:23 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015