Challenges

You just never know what life is going to throw at you.  You can be cruising through life and think the path is just a straight line right in front of you, but then bam you hit a 90 degree turn you didn't see coming at all.  Can you relate to this?  Lately I have had some close friends facing some difficult challenges, and this has been on my mind a lot.  All of us have challenges.  Mine are different from yours.  I think it is important when we face challenges--which we do daily--that we take the time to look beyond ourselves.  Look at others and what they are facing.  So often it is a greater challenge that what we face.  When we do this it helps us put things into perspective.  We think, "huh, maybe I don't have it so bad after all."  So often during challenges we get so caught up in our own here and now that we fail to look beyond and see another's pain and challenges and offer help.  This is so important because not only when we do this does it help another but it helps us also.   It is that perspective thing again.  Perspective is so important when dealing with challenges and realizing that what we are going through will not last forever.  "This too shall pass" is one of my bestest friend's favorite sayings.  I think of that often.  "This too shall pass."  This challenge is but a moment in the great scheme of things.  Try and remember the big picture.  Like my little pep talk?  And I often remember a quote from a church meeting years ago, "If you think someone else is perfect, or their life is perfect, then you just don't know them well enough."  No one is perfect, least of all me, and that is important to remember as we face challenges also.  Everyone has them.  That is life.  The important thing is how we choose to deal with them because we do have a choice.  We always have a choice when it comes to how we decide to act towards our challenges instead of reacting.