Sunday morning we are driving down a gravel road on Lookout Mountain near Fort Payne.  Perhaps we are traveling 30 miles an hour on this deserted path made of crushed stone and packed clay.  When suddenly I suggest rather loudly that we stop the car; when asked why all I can say is, did you not see that big juicy butterfly?  By now, they know better than to argue, so as the car slows I grab my camera and set out chasing my butterfly.

        This photo is actually two photos of the same butterfly that I combined because I could not decide which one I liked best.  The old saying kept coming to my mind, if you can’t beat em, join em; so that is what I did, I combined the photos.  I was drawn to the dangerous looking thistle from which the butterfly was feasting.  What looked like a tremendous obstacle to me was simply another fountain of blessings to one with eyes strong enough to see beyond the thorns.  What looked like adversity to me was just a launching pad for adventure to the one with the wings.

        Adversity can either destroy or build up, depending on how we choose to respond to them.  The difficulties of life are intended to make us better, not bitter.  What one calls a hindrance another calls a stepping stone.  It is not the things we call problems that really bother us; it is the way we are looking at them.  Our attitude toward our trouble often hurts us much more than the trouble.  It is not the load you are carrying that breaks you down; it is the way you carry it.  Helen Keller once said, “I thank God for my handicaps, for through them, I have found myself, my work and my God”.  She came to realize that there were incredible opportunities hidden away in her handicaps.  What we called devastating problems she recognized as one of a kind opportunities.

        Today, each of us will face obstacles, problems and difficulties.   And in the midst of each one is hidden an opportunity to grow stronger, wiser and more kind.  You don’t have to wait for an opportunity to come; it’s already here, disguised as your problems.  We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.  So today when you are faced with a difficult problem search for your opportunity to help someone, look for your chance to encourage and to share the good things you have been given.  Happiness is a choice; choose to look upon your adversities as adventures.

Something to think about:

• Failure is merely an opportunity to start over are wiser than before.

• When written in Chinese the word crisis is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.

• The pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; the optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

• An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while the pessimist sees only the red light. But the truly wise are color-blind.

• The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.

• If you’re looking for a big opportunity, seek out a big problem.

• Obstacles in the pathway of the weak become stepping-stones in the pathway of the strong.

• When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one that has opened for us.

• The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive. The great opportunity is where you are.

Thankful for the opportunities of this ordinary day
Rickey Moore