Nearly everyone can put their hands up and say they hate challenges. Why would we like them? What’s so good about them? They cause us pain, hardships, and misery. It’s like you go through a challenge only to go through another challenge. It’s like this never-ending cycle. Furthermore, it’s like the challenges we through seem to go on forever. It’s like you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. You get to a low point and start to doubt if you’re even going to make it. You want to give up, quit, throw in the towel and say you’re done. You think it causes more pain than it’s worth.
If you can be honest with yourself, you’ve probably said or even had these thoughts. It’s okay though, and very normal. We weren’t created to like challenges, but we were created to defeat the challenges. There is something in you that can defeat the challenge that you’re going through right now. Before you were born, God placed certain attributes inside of you. We go through challenges using these attributes but also to grow them. Understand that the more you use something, the stronger it gets. Think of a baby walking. It’s a challenge for the baby to walk, but the more the baby uses its legs, the stronger the babies legs are. We know this because soon, the baby is walking with ease.
Through this, however, there’s a key component, and that’s time. Everything takes time. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither did your legs grow in a day. Rome was developed over time, and so were your legs. When you’re feeling discouraged, know that this challenge will pass. You may not see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it doesn’t mean it’s not there. You may have heard this before, “Don’t doubt the existence of a thing even when you can’t see it”. If you haven’t, then you have now. You don’t always see the sun, but you know it’s behind the clouds. The sun doesn’t leave, nor does it take a vacation. It’s always there. Similarly, the light is always there at the end of the tunnel, even if we can’t see it.
You’ve now accomplished the challenge. Amazing. It doesn’t stop there, however. You need to reflect on your past. Please understand, reflecting is different from dwelling. Here are the definitions of reflecting and dwelling.
Dwell: Live in or at a specified place.
Reflect: Think deeply or carefully about.
Already you can see the difference between both words. To dwell on something means to remain there for some time. It means we’re staying there. It means you should set up camp because you might not be going home anytime soon. Seriously though, dwelling on our past is not what we want to do. If you stay in your past, you can’t be present. Try thinking of something that happened a long time ago. Whilst doing this, try paying attention to your surroundings, either a voice or picture, anything.
You did it yet?
No?
Here are a few more seconds.
Done?
Great. How was it? Could you focus on both things at the same time? If you could, amazing. Although, most people wouldn’t have been able to. Why? Well, because dwelling on something stops you from thinking/doing something else. Even if you could give yourself both to the present and the past, it would have been divided. If it’s divided, you can’t focus and complete one thing. Or it will take a longer time to complete. You can see why you shouldn’t dwell on the past. Staying there makes you miss out on what’s happening at the moment.
Instead, we reflect on the past. How do we do this? By thinking deeply and carefully about where we’ve been. Wait, you might be saying, isn’t that dwelling? I’m there for some time. Aren’t they the same? Good question, but no. They have similar attributes, but they’re not the same. Reflecting is different because you can switch it off. When you reflect, you’re looking for specific things. What went wrong? What went well? What could I have done better? How did I grow from this? What has changed about me? How have I developed? Reflecting is intentional. You’re choosing to think about something for a short period. You don’t stay there forever. However, when you’re dwelling, you’re not sure how long you’re going to stay there. You might not even go there with an agenda. You might want to chill and relax there. There’s no main focus or intention out of “dwelling”.
Reflecting on your past is great because you’re able to see how far you’ve come. If you didn’t defeat all those previous challenges you wouldn’t be where you are today, and neither would you have a story to tell. Challenges can make you or break you, but you get to choose. Choose to let the challenges make you, then reflect on where you were before. Remind yourself. If you did it before, you will do it again. Don’t dwell in the past, but reflect on it.
As a Living Piece, we all have a part to play. You may be a piece by yourself, but together we create the bigger picture, the Masterpiece.
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