GRIND OR SHINE

Adversity is the grindstone of life. Intended to polish you up,
adversity also has the ability to grind you down. The impact and
ultimate result depend on what you do with the difficulties that come
your way. Consider the phenomenal achievements of people experiencing
adversity.
Beethoven composed his greatest works after becoming deaf. Sir Walter
Raleigh wrote the History of the World during a thirteen year
imprisonment. If Columbus had turned back, no one could have blamed
him, considering the constant adversity he endured. Of course, no one
would have remembered him either. Abraham Lincoln achieved greatness
by his display of wisdom and character during the devastation of the
Civil War. Luther translated the Bible while enduring confinement in
the Castle of Wartburg. Under a sentence of death and during twenty
years in exile, Dante wrote the Divine Comedy. John Bunyan wrote
Pilgrim's Progress in a Bedford jail.
Finally, consider a more recent example. Mary Groda-Lewis endured
sixteen years of illiteracy because of unrecognized dyslexia, was
committed to a reformatory on two different occasions, and almost died
of a stroke while bearing a child. Committed to going to college, she
worked at a variety of odd jobs to save money, graduated with her high
school equivalency at eighteen, was named Oregon's outstanding Upward
Bound student, and finally entered college. Determined to become a
doctor, she faced fifteen medical school rejections until Albany
Medical College finally accepted her. In 1984, Dr. Mary Groda-Lewis,
at thirty-five, graduated with honors to fulfill her dream.

Adversity - the grindstone of life. Will it grind you down or polish
you up?