Finding strength in tough times

Sometimes life comes along and dumps a big ole stinkin’ pile of poop right on top of your head. It doesn’t ring the doorbell or schedule an appointment either. No, it comes around unannounced and without warning. I would love the opportunity to throw it back or pile it up at its front door…on fire, but somehow I can’t seem to find a shovel or a wheelbarrow when I need one.

But you know, I have learned to appreciate those piles of stench when they come. Sounds crazy, I know, but some of the most amazing flowers I have ever seen have grown out of the most terrible of circumstances. I saw a beautiful, radiant flower growing in the middle of a smelly old compost pile once. There’s something powerful and amazing about a flower growing in the midst of tragedy. Imagine all it had to go through just to bloom, to grow. It had to push through a whole lot of crap, suffer more than most, yet somehow found the strength to rise up and bloom where it was planted…in the middle of a mess.

I’m sure it felt suffocated, unappreciated, unlovable, unimportant, and even out of place, especially seeing all the other flowers enjoying the comforts of the flower bed. Yet there it was stuck in a pile of poop. That would make any flower contemplate giving up.

Over the years, I have noticed that life is full of piles of poop. As we walk this journey, sometimes we are going to step in some pretty big smelly piles of it too. Sometimes life is going to keep piling it up. Pile after pile, mess after mess, struggle after struggle. When that happens, our first reaction tends to include throwing our hands up with serious thoughts of quitting.

Maybe you’ve been pooped on by life and you’ve simply had more than you think you can handle. Maybe MS has been bothering you more lately than in times past. Maybe you don’t have anything left in you to hang on to and getting things done for yourself seems like an impossibility.

Know that today you can choose to take a step towards making a difference in your own life! Get out of the house, listen to your favorite happy song, remind yourself of what you love and what makes you happy! You don’t want to miss the good that is around you by sitting in a stinkin’ pile of poop.

Even with all the difficulties and disappointments, I know you’re not a quitter. You are like that amazing, beautiful flower growing in the middle of a mess. That’s pretty incredible if you ask me. You may not be able to change your circumstances, but you can change your perspective and find beauty in the mess. It’s time to push through all the mess surrounding you, hold your head high and bloom where you are planted.