“There are times when we choose our challenges … and there’s other times where the challenges simply choose us. And it’s what we do in the face of those challenges that really defines who we are and more importantly who we can and will become.” Story by Natalie Angley, CNN News
Travis Roy had a dream…to be the best hockey player he could be. He often dreamed of how far he could go. He was accepted to Boston University on a scholarship…to play hockey. It was October 20, 1995 when his dream came true…it lasted eleven seconds. That was the amount of time that passed from when he entered the rink until he lay paralyzed on the ice.
Today Travis is 42 years old. He would tell you that he is still heartbroken at what might have been. However, he decided long ago this challenge would not define him, but that he would define himself, he would decide who he would become.
I believe what life is about is bigger than what we think. We think too small. Our vision is limited by the story we tell ourselves about what is supposed to be. Whoever made the promise of what your life is supposed to be?
Here’s what I think…life is really about your spiritual evolution, your awakening to what you really are…it is about expanding your heart, opening it up wider to love more, and it is about learning to trust in something greater and bigger than you.
The best we can do when faced with a challenge is to practice taking a spiritual perspective. Just kind of lean into it a bit, stay with it, not shrink back from it. Instead of asking any question that begins with WHY…we might ask instead…where is God in all of this? Not as in where could God possibly be, but rather from the attitude I know God is here, let me see. We might ask So, what am I to be in the midst of this? We might say Let me be guided by the Divine as I negotiate this…let me make the right choice.
It’s tough to go ‘all in’ and trust God when things seem difficult, unbearable, unjust, overwhelming. If we are willing to lean a little bit in the direction of our challenges and open up to the Divine wisdom in our own heart and soul…we’ll know what is ours to do and to become.
Check out Facebook at Spiritual Soul Center for Sunday, August 20th message on this topic. If you didn’t read the full story about Travis Roy, click here.
Much love always
Paula
