BS’D
There is a tale of a king who purposely places a boulder in the middle of the road. He then hides himself and waits to see what would happen. He notices that many people walked around the boulder and overheard many of them loudly blaming him, the king, for not keeping the roads clear.
Eventually, a peasant carrying a load of vegetables spies the boulder. He lays down his heavy load. After straining and pushing he finally succeeds in moving the boulder to the side of the road. As he turns away to collect his box, he notices a pouch in the middle of the road where the boulder had previously stood. He opens it up and to his delight, finds many gold coins hiding within.
The pouch also contains a hand-written note signed by the king. The note explains that the king himself had purposely placed both the boulder and the gold coins in the middle of the road. Only the person who removes the load is to be rewarded with the bounty.
This peasant learned a powerful lesson that many of us fail to understand. Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve our condition. Life is full of challenges. We have a choice in our attitude and our response to these challenges. We can view them as annoying hindrances and circumvent them, complaining all the while and blaming the King who sent them. Or we can develop a healthy attitude on how to address them.
If we fail to address our problems, eventually they will destroy our lives. Our task is to grow and mature through our challenges, using them to help us build character, make us strong and connect to Hashem.
