Broken or Refined?

All our experiences refine us -- and sometimes they try us to the bone. But when we've made it through a trying experience, we know that the next time we face this thing we will know what to do.

The old way of breaking and training a horse was to get on it and ride until it quit trying to throw the rider. Thank goodness, there are new ways no to gentle a horse, but many of us act like a horse being broken the old way. We buck and snort until we throw the rider, and even then we're still wild and poorly adjusted. Most of us don't like being refined. We want to do it our way -- and we pay the consequences for that. It's important, though, to remember how strong we are when we learn -- and how weak when we react. Our challenge is to be open to learning throughout our lives, knowing that what we learn will help us with whatever we encounter in the future.