Life's Challenges

When I retired as a priest a year ago I thought I knew what challenges I faced in life. From the time I was a teenager I have rarely worked less than sixty hours a week. As a teacher I usually had multiple jobs, and as a priest I didn't need more than one. I thought my challenge in retirement was going to be in the arena of finding things to do and finding meaning in life without work. I'm not saying that I didn't have moments where those issues were evident, but reality is I found the adjustment to retirement quite easy. I'm sure glad of that because if I was struggling with that issue and Marsha's health and death at the same time I don't know how I would have coped. Life is just challenging. We don't know what the next challenge will be, but we can be sure that there will be one. Partly this is true because we are very complicated and our relationships are even more complicated. Our expectations of ourselves and our expectations of others leave lots of areas for challenges. Hopefully the challenges help us to grow, they always hold that possibility. My saying is that each moment is pregnant with opportunity. Many opportunities are missed and we don't grow, but when we seize the moment and let the challenge fulfill it's possibility we grow as people. I'm not saying I'm going to run out and find some new challenges. Life presents quite enough on it's own. I will say that I hope I welcome the challenges and look for what they possess for me. I will be better off and I will be be better for others as well if I can find the growth they possess.