Adversity
Topic: On Life
Adversity I’ve heard that “whatever doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.” If this were the case, I might look like Arnold Schwarzenegger, before he became governor of California. I don’t know if this is expression is true, but I can certainly attest to the fact that life has lots of challenges, or as some call them, tests. In fact, it’s a whole battery of tests, and maybe the trick is to think of them like they’re just pop quizzes, not major hurdles and frustrations. And if we are being tested, by whom? If it’s God, “final exams” have a whole new meaning, and if that’s the case, whatever doesn’t make you stronger, does indeed kill you. Perhaps in this middle stage of our lives, our trials are just mid-terms? If I pass my tests, am I acing my life? Maybe. But sometimes I feel like I’m not sure if I’m even going to make more than a middling grade. I used to watch my son play Nintendo and was always amazed that as soon as he negotiated one obstacle, another one would replace it. How totally unsatisfying! It struck me that in some sub-conscious, philosophical way, this was a great training for life’s frustrations. And, if life is like a very long Nintendo game in the way that if it ain’t one thing, it’s another, then perhaps we only have to hurdle that brick wall in front of us to be on the road again to the next test of our mettle. Maybe his current job of a navy cook on a submarine was only an outgrowth of his Nintendo days. I remember a conversation between my sister and brother-in-law. After a day of errands she returned home and was complaining about all the crazy drivers out there. My brother-in-law replied, “Mara, that’s what driving is.” I loved his reply because it was about changing her expectations, since she couldn’t change the drivers. Perhaps if when we encounter an unmovable mountain, we will calmly negotiate it by climbing over or walking around it. We will not honk at it or give it the finger, wishing that the mountain would go away. I can’t say I’m sure about how God works in all of this. What I do think is that it’s more about my choice in how I deal with my obstacles. Even though we complain about the rain, we know that there’s nothing to be done about it except use an umbrella. So today, on Rosh Hashanah, I will look at my “road of life” and clean off my hiking boots and take out my slicker, because with any luck, I have a few mountains left to climb.