Benefiting from life’s tests

If you’re ever lucky enough to find a lump of gold, you’ll probably be unlucky enough to throw it away. You see, a lump of gold in its natural state is usually so full of impurities that it doesn’t look quite like the gold you’re used to seeing. You wouldn’t recognize it as gold. To purify the gold, you need to subject it to extreme heat—melt it—and the dross floats away. The fire removes the impurities and the gold shines.

I picked up a book this week entitled Fire and Gold—Benefiting from Life’s Tests by Brian Kurzius. The title implies that the purification of gold by fire is like purification of our characters by tests, trials and tribulations. The book points out that tests are inevitable. Growth comes only by being subjected to and overcoming tests. Without tests, there is no growth. Bummer. I was hoping on just relaxing—soaking up some water and sunshine and, you know, just growing without having to exert any effort—kind of like a plant. I wasn’t really counting on test after test after test.

Kurzius points out that “the challenge of tests is to use them to grow rather than complaining about their appearance. For if we look upon our suffering as an opportunity to grow, we transform our negative experiences into positive ones and can develop capacities and strengths that we never knew existed.” Wow. Now wouldn’t that be different—To stop complaining because of the tests that come my way? To think of suffering as an opportunity to grow? To transform my negative experiences into positive ones? I need to shift my perspective so that I see these tests as a positive force in my life. If I do, I might actually be able to benefit from them.

It has been poetically stated that “Men who suffer not, attain no perfection. The plant most pruned by the gardener is that one which, when the summer comes, will have the most beautiful blossoms and the most abundant fruit.” This statement was especially meaningful to me, since I had aspirations of being a plant. “The mind and spirit of man advance when he is tried by suffering. The more the ground is plowed the better the seed will grow, the better the harvest will be. Just as the plow furrows the earth deeply, purifying it of weeds and thistles, so suffering and tribulation free man from the petty affairs of this worldly life…”

Got thistles? How about weeds? Petty affairs? That plow that’s digging those furrows across your heart can serve a purpose. Just by realizing that trials and tribulations can serve a purpose, we can accept them, maybe even welcome them, and benefit from them. Tests and difficulties come again and again and help turn our weaknesses into strengths. They are a part of the rhythm of life, the cycle of growth. If we don’t see their purpose, life is devoid of dignity and grace, and is usually one big complaint.

The next time I’m feeling pruned or plowed, or stuck in the fire, I’ll remember to look upon my suffering as a means of purification of my character, as an opportunity to grow.

(David Khorram, MD is a board certified ophthalmologist, and director of Marianas Eye Institute. Questions and comments are welcome. Call 235-9090 or email eye@vzpacifica.net. Copyright © 2005 David Khorram.)