No one likes a test.
For most of us, they were the worst thing about school. You got nervous thinking about it. The kids who weren’t that smart worried. The kids who didn’t study worried. The smart kids, those who should have had nothing to worry about, often worried the most, scared that they wouldn’t score 100.
We all expected the testing to be over
Everyone expects the testing to be over when they get out of school. It’s a great thing to look forward to. No more study. No more pressure. No more being judged…once they graduate! What a relief it will be! A pain free, pressure free life is waiting. Of course we know we’ll have to work…but the stress will be gone.
But unfortunately the testing never ends.
That’s one of the biggest “welcome to the real world” lessons we learn when we get out of school. We slowly realize the tests are going to keep coming. We find we’re tested at work. We’re tested managing our money. We’re tested by marriage, by raising our kids, by maintaining our health. Constant challenges. They keep on coming. Gradually we realize that the challenges are going to keep coming…that they are part of life.
Problems appear like magic!
Anything in life that you accomplish is done by overcoming obstacles. All you have to do is decide you want to do something, build something, start a new exciting project or even plan a vacation…then here comes the problems. They come automatically, without effort and they come every single time—it’s magical! Even if you want to do something as simple as have a meeting, as soon as you pick a time you find out almost everyone has a time conflict. Unfortunately, most rebel against problems. They turn sour and bitter about having to spend time on what seems to be such a waste of time. They let it sour their attitude and that’s not a good because…
The testing is a very good thing!
The challenges of life toughen us up. They make us stronger. They make us able to handle bigger responsibility and as a result achieve more success. We develop a strength we never knew we had. We are able to accomplish more and make big positive impacts in many areas of life that are important to us. Situations that earlier in life would have caused us to panic now we can handle with ease. Also the struggle tests our desire. It makes us be sure that whatever it is we are working on is something that is worth all the extra effort to get it done.
Because we’ve been tested and survived, we are able to help others
When those around us go through may of the same challenges we faced, we are able to encourage them. We are able to give them a perspective on trials and help them to stay on course until they succeed. They can tell when we talk that we’ve been through similar situations and because of that they know they can trust us.
Overcoming challenges also makes the victory so much sweeter
Things that are easy don’t have much value. If you didn’t have to stretch yourself to accomplish your goal it won’t mean much to you. It’s the things that are the hardest, that you have to struggle and strain to pull off, also that take the longest, that you remember the most. If you ever won a Super Bowl or World Series ring you would treasure it. It would be in a very safe place. But if you won a bowling trophy for a one night tournament, you might not remember where it was the next week.
