Life is tough.

Sometimes life is very tough.

And sometimes we may not feel strong enough to get through those tough times.

No matter what stage of life we are in, life is tough.

It’s tough growing up as a kid, walking the hallways at school, trying to discover who we are.

It’s tough transitioning into the reality of post-high school, processing adulthood responsibilities, and dealing with new relationships, or the lack of new relationships.

It’s tough being newly married, figuring out how to live each day with a new person, living on no money while going to school.

It’s tough working through the challenges of raising children, building a family, or finding out the children you desperately desire aren’t to come in the usual fashion.

It’s tough working a job, building a career, climbing the ladder, or staying stuck on the rung.

It’s tough dealing with health issues, emotional challenges, relationship conflicts, disappointments that hurt deeper than you feel you can endure.

It’s tough when dreams are dashed, faith fails to lift and support, hope disappears.

Yes, it is true, life is tough. It is also true that you are strong. You are stronger than life is tough.

Believe it.

Strong means getting back up when you are knocked down. Strong means getting back up when you trip and fall flat on your proverbial face. Strong means getting back up when you have repeatedly fallen down by the mistakes you make. Strong means getting back up even when that ugly voice inside your head is telling you to stay down and give up.

It doesn’t matter why we were knocked down. It doesn’t matter if we fell a little or a lot. It doesn’t matter how much we hurt.

Being strong simply means getting back up. Being strong means crawling and clawing your way back up. Being strong means standing when you don’t want to.

Being strong also means accepting help, welcoming the outstretched hand, believing their encouraging words.

Being strong means focusing on what’s in your control, acting responsibly in those areas, letting go of what is not in your control.

Being strong means owning our attitude, as we learned from Victor Frankl last week:

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. The one thing you can’t take away from me is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me. The last of one’s freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstance.”

Getting back up when we’re down is how we win our race of life. We are the only competitor in this race and all we have to do to win is keep getting back up.

It really is that simple.

NOW FOR THE BEST PART…

We create magic when we get back up.

Did you know that???

It’s true. Each and every time we get back up we create magic.

How do we create magic???

It’s beautifully simple.

When we get back up we automatically help another to get back up by our example. When we push through challenging times, others will push through their challenges. When we rise from the ground, brush off the dirt, bind up our wounds, others will follow suit.

That is the magic.

People watch our efforts. No matter how minimal our effort may seem, it’s often gigantic in the eyes of another.

That is why you are strong.

That is why I love you.

I leave you with this gift, a gem of a thought, a note of encouragement, a reflection understanding.

I ROSE AND RAN AGAIN
By Les Patterson

Great opportunity
Awaited eagerly
Those ready and willing
To rise to the challenge.

Though many already
Withered in their failure
With determination
I vowed to try my best.

To the mark I stepped up
As history records
But then no more is said
For all I did was try.

As the wise old master
Taught his young protege
“Do or do not” you must
In life “there is no try.”

Shift in thought warranted
Change in attitude helped
But best course of action
Simply get up and do.

The story now is told
The race of life I won
For each time I fell down
I rose and ran again.

Have a great Monday! Thanks for letting me share.

Les

p.s. Take 13 minutes today to rise, to get up, to run again, to encourage another. 

FEATURED PHOTO: Brannon Naito on Unsplash

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