Noting down the many lessons we can discern from even a ‘small’ experience, we can be led to discover that everything that happens in our life has a meaning and purpose and is, ultimately, for our own good.
By Trinkoo
Among the greatest sources of wisdom that we have been blessed with is our own life. And it isn’t just the ‘big’, spectacular events in our lives that we can learn from. We can learn from even so-called insignificant, everyday happenings and experiences, if we care to reflect on them.
Take for instance something that happened with me recently. I had been careless and hadn’t bothered to properly clean my bathroom for a while. I had been too lazy to prevent unwanted things from flowing down the bathroom drain. As a result, the drain got clogged, and soon the floor was submerged in water. It was a nasty sight, with little worms swimming about! I thought that the water might gradually drain out by itself overnight, but the next morning, when I peered into the bathroom, things didn’t seem to have changed much, if at all. I was very upset.
Certain Diffidence
My initial reaction had been to think of requesting someone else to clear the drain for me. Maybe this was because I didn’t want to wade through the fetid water and dirty myself. It could have also been because of a certain diffidence: I didn’t think I was capable of handling the situation. I had generally depended on people like home-help for such things.
Somehow, though, the thought came to me that I should try to clean the drain myself. I took a rod, prodded the drain with it, and, to my great surprise and joy, in a short while the drain cleared and the accumulated water began to flow! For me, this ‘little’ event was a big achievement! It was alsoandnbsp; an enormous relief not to have to ask someone for help.
When I think about it now, this seemingly small incident contains very valuable lessons for my life, such as the following:
I must make the effort every day to keep my physical surroundings clean, because otherwise, if I am lazy and neglectful, I’ll have to face things like clogged drains with worms swimming about or worse! In the long run, laziness never pays. In fact, it always proves costly.
I mustn’t get so overly busy doing other things (including some that aren’t at all necessary) that I neglect basic things like personal hygiene. I must have my priorities in order.
I shouldn’t yield to the temptation to ask someone else to do things for me if I can do these myself. If, because of laziness, I make myself unnecessarily dependent on someone else for such things, I will weaken myself and also become a burden on others, which they are likely to resent.
Just because I may not have tried my hand at something before doesn’t mean that I should automatically assume that I am incapable of doing it. I shouldn’t underestimate my capabilities. Thinking that I am incapable of doing something can easily turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Some tasks may be too physically difficult for me to do. But no task is too physically ‘dirty’ for me to do. If someone else can do it, so can I.
I shouldn’t shy away from new challenges that life may present, wrongly fearing that they are beyond me to handle.andnbsp; If I am faced with a novel situation that demands a response from me, rather than refusing to engage in it just because it’s unfamiliar, I should take it up, with God’s help.
When I overcome my diffidence, fear and lack of self-confidence by taking bold steps and decisions in the face of new situations, I can grow in confidence. I can trust that, with God’s grace, I can face unfamiliar situations and don’t need to be afraid of or run away from the challenges that life poses every now and then.andnbsp;
So many precious life-lessons from a seemingly little event!
As this incident indicates,andnbsp;every single experience in life, without exception”’small’ or ‘big’, ‘good’ or ‘bad’, sad or joyful”contains great lessons for living.
To learn from every experience we go through in life we need to take the time off to reflect deeply on them. Emotionally distancing ourselves from an experience and viewing it as a dispassionate observer or witness, we should ask ourselves this question: “What lessons can I draw from it?”
Noting down the many lessons we can discern from even a ‘small’ experience, we can be led to discover that everything that happens in our life has a meaning and purpose and is, ultimately, for our own good.
Try this as an experiment with anything that happens to you today and you might be very excited at what a fun way this is to learn precious life-lessons! n
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