Shine Through Adversity

Deb and Don

It's a beautiful summer day in Utah.  We are visiting there for a week while one of our boys is at a youth camp.  My husband and I enjoy the outdoors so we decided to go for a little hike.  We were told this was a "family friendly" hike and it wouldn't be too strenuous.  I don't mind a good work out but an "easy" hike sounded fun since I haven't been to the gym most of the summer (Hello! It's summer! Who has time for THAT, right?).

So, my husband reads up about a place called Donut Falls out toward Brighton Ski Village and off we go!  He told me that this place is visited by hundreds of people just about daily.  We would be lucky to find a parking spot.  Well, as luck would have it....we DID find a parking spot that didn't require us to walk a few miles before the REAL hike began.

Cute little chipmunk!

As we're walking we are passing families and young couples and even a group of girls with some leaders - so we're guessing it was a church girls camp event.  In any case, there were  A LOT of people and we weren't even at the "falls" part yet.  As we were hiking the trail we were able to admire the beauty around us.  We saw a cute little chipmunk as well as many, many, many annoying insects.

Donut Falls

When we finally arrived at the falls, it was over populated with people.  We had to cross the water, which was pretty easy, to get to the other side in order to start our climb up to the actual "donut" part (that name alone makes me hungry!).  I told my husband that there were too many people to enjoy the climb so we just sat and people watched and admired the beauty around us.

After a few minutes we decided that we had better leave because soon all those people we passed would be right here, too.  That would make this crowded place even MORE crowded.  We took a different path back down and eventually ended up on the single trail that would lead us back to our car.

You may be thinking, "That's a lot of unimportant stuff she just shared with us.  What was the purpose?"  I'm glad you asked!

You see, on the way back down - once we got back to the main path that everyone takes to get up to the falls (the hundreds of people daily) - I noticed something that I didn't notice before. There were a lot of rocks.  As we kept walking down the trail I noticed some rocks were shiny and some weren't.  I noticed some rocks were still below the surface trying to break through but the parts that were above ground were shiny.

That's when it came to me.  I'm sure someone will come up with the scientific reasoning as to why, how and what.  But, since this is my blog, I'm going to share with you MY thoughts and how it applies to my life - and since we're NEVER ALONE, I'm sure it will apply to many of you and your lives as well. :)

The "dull" rock on the side of
the trail

The rock close to the middle and
yet, not close enough to get
stepped on much

This first rock is along the SIDE of the path.  It doesn't appear to get stepped on very often, if at all. It is dull, with no shine to it at all.  Then there's this other rock I noticed.  It isn't as dull as the first rock but not as shiny as some of the others I had noticed.  It wasn't in the middle of the trail but near enough that it could be stepped on, just not as often as some of the others.  A little further down the trail I see a shiny rock with it's "head" poking through the dirt.  It is in the middle of the trail where I'm sure it gets stepped on frequently.  In fact, I even stepped on it!  Then I walk a little further and see a bunch of bigger rocks in the middle of the trail.  You basically HAVE to walk ON them in order to stay on the trail.  These rocks are in the ground and yet, above the ground and the parts that are showing are shiny.

The rock shining and breaking
through!

That's when my "ah ha" moment hit me.  We are like those rocks.  If we sit on the side of the trail of life, people may not notice us.  They may pass by without a second thought.  We will remain as we are.  Or we can be those rocks in the MIDDLE OF THE TRAIL.  Those rocks that get stepped on.  Those rocks that face adversity and RISE ABOVE IT.  Those rocks that are shining through the dirt that has been thrown at them or packed on them....and yet still keep fighting to stay above the ground.  They are shiny because of the people that have stepped on them....THE ADVERSITY THEY HAVE OVERCOME. I'm willing to bet that some of those shiny rocks have even HELPED some people along the way. Perhaps at one point they are used as a marker so the weary hiker knows, "When I see that rock I'll know I'm almost down the mountain" or the rock that gave a foothold to the hiker that needed a little boost.

So you see, as we stay in the middle of the road of life we may get stepped on.  We may have people even try and push us down further into the ground only to push themselves ahead of you.  How we respond to that adversity will determine how bright we shine.  It may take some time but eventually we will shine!  Or, we can remain on the side of the road, perhaps unnoticed and ignored, and never shine, never be who or what we could have been had we only stepped away from the side and walked the path and faced adversity head on, knowing we had it within us to keep fighting to stay on top and eventually SHINE.  

More shiny rocks

One of the bigger shiny rocks

 May we each continue to shine through the adversity we face as we keep striving to remain above ground.  And may we always know that we are NEVER ALONE on the trail of life.

Debbie