It’s a saying I’ve heard all of my life. It’s that time in your life when you find yourself between a really hard thing (rock) and another hard thing (place). I’ve learned that throughout life we’re often stuck between a rock and a hard place. We’re constantly faced with challenges, not all bad, it’s just life and hard times come to each of us.
But I think it’s during those times when life, work, family, jobs, feel hard. They feel like they could crush you if you don’t escape them. It feels like some of the hardest times come right before a breakthrough. Sometimes that breakthrough is in your marriage, job, dreams, spirituality.
On a hike recently I couldn’t help but notice various vegetation that had broken through the rock hard mountain. I have always found it fascinating when I see a plant growing out of rock. It makes me wonder how hard that seed had to work to get through the hardness. Roots intertwine with each other, strengthening the plant as it stretches through the rock, eventually getting its first glimpse of sunlight, where growth comes a little bit easier.
A cactus and a flower growing just a few inches from each other. Both had to be resilient enough to break through the hardness of its situation. One seed broke through prickly, you could even say painful if you’re not paying attention, somewhat unattractive, not a plant that would be your first pick for a flower arrangement. The other seed broke through full of color, blossoming a vibrant flower, attractive and eye-catching.
It made me consider how humans work through the rock and hard places in their lives. Sometimes the adversity we face can squash us, it changes how we view life, and how we come through the rock. We can come through and be prickly like a cactus, sometimes causing pain to others, whether intentional or not. Or we can come through and bring a brightness, like the flower around us.
While the seeds in the rocky mountain don’t get a choice on what they become, they just have to be resilient enough to break through the rock. We have the opportunity to make the choice on what we become when we break through the hard times in our lives.
I encourage you first, to be resilient and when you find yourself between a rock and a hard place, you choose to keep pushing forward. Keep fighting through the pain, the crushing you feel, and know that every day you're a little closer to break through and light, which will bring life. Secondly, when you break through, remember you have the choice on how you come out, a prickly, grumpy cactus, or a beautiful life giving sunshiney flower.
