Strength- Thought for the Day

I found this little poem in my daughters room wadded up on the floor. Of course, at 12 years of age, you don't appreciate words of inspiration yet. It made my day. Sometimes I find the best things on my kids floors, junk to them and treasures to me. Maybe I just have great kids (yep, I sure do)!

Like the story below, I feel like sometimes life is nothing but one stormy season, one wind gust after another with occasional (painful) hail. Yet again, sometimes its a warm sunny day and smooth sailing. Today I am thankful for it all. If it makes me taller, stronger, and better bring it on... (in moderation please)

Good Timber
The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light
But stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain
Never became a forest king
But lived and died a scrubby thing.

The man who never had to toil
To gain and farm his patch of soil
Who never had to win his share
OF sun and sky and light and air
Never became a manly man
But lived and died as he began.

Good timber does not grow with ease
The stronger wind, the stronger trees
The further sky, the greater length
The more the storm the more the strength
By sun and cold, by rain and snow
In trees and men good timbers grow.

Where thickest lies the forest growth
We find the patriarchs of both
And they hold counsel with the stars
Whose broken branches show the scars
Of many winds and much of strife
This is the common law of life.
(Douglas Malloch as quoted by Sterling W. Sill, Making the Most of Yourself)

Once my mom and I were talking, in one of our deep conversations that happen from time to time. She said how sometimes she feels picked on by being given one problem after another, and how unfair that was since her friends seem to not have that happen in their lives. (Sometimes, I think this is why we have children, the way we all help keep each other on the right track). She needed a little redirection and a little hug.
My response to her was:
1- That she didn't know all the battles that they were fighting, only the ones they told her about. She also didn't know all the battles that they came through in years before she knew them, battles won and some battles lost.
2- The battles we face and how we handle them prove ourselves to God. They make us women of substance. (If I had known about this poem I could of told her how we are becoming GOOD timber)! Trials give us the experience that we are here on earth to get. All the tests on earth are not standardized, they are personalized. No one said it would be easy, only that it would be worth it!

I am a runner, or at least I try to be. My favorite thing to do is to run up the mountain nearby called Webb Hill. It's a steep 1 1/2 miles from the base to the top but it is the best challenge. It took me a year of trying to run up it before I achieved the goal. I picked landmarks each time that I would run to and would not give up no matter how tired or painful.

The flat parts, or not so steep parts, are what I call recovery. I can run sloppy there, breathe, until the next climb where I have to watch my feet with every step. It always helps to see people on that hill on their own journeys.

Sometimes they are encouraging to me telling me good job, your almost there. Sometimes they are in front of me and they are my "rabbit" that I am chasing like a greyhound, keeping me focused on the push. I love to see people. If not people, please give me a headwind! Something to dry to sweat a little- natures a/c! Why do I do it? Because the view from the top is worth it. All in all, it's a great feeling of accomplishment.

Someday, as I'm sure we all do, I'd like to hear the words after my push to the summit of life is achieved "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." (Matthew 25:21). May we all be found "good timber" and agree that it was all indeed absolutely worth it!