New Reminders: Challenges
by Ardith Hoff
A challenge, is often something new and difficult which requires great effort and determination, or a situation that takes a great deal of thought and effort to resolve or overcome. There are many other kinds of challenges such as sporting events or other kinds of contests that we enter into to show strength, endurance and problem-solving or strategic skills.
For example, I set a challenge for myself in writing these essays––to keep them short. To help me stay focused, I set a word limit to challenge myself to try to leave out excess words and phrases as I go along. When that did not work very well, I set an absolute limit of 450 words, Exactly! I made it a game to see if I could write what I started out to say in exactly that many words. So far, according to the word count on my computer, I have done that. This is not to give myself credit, but to spare my readers from excess verbiage. In one of my earlier essays, on “Maturity”, I remember using a quote from Yung Pueblo, saying that “Maturity is realizing that half of what we want to say, does not need to be said.” I try to keep that in mind. And then I edit!
We all have challenges. Some we enter into willingly, and some are forced upon us: social, financial, work related, dating, marriage and family problems, health issues, neighbors, all the difficult issues and people we have to deal with, just to list a few.
Challenges can motivate us to do our best and accomplish great things, or they can overwhelm us and cause us to buckle under the pressure. Sometimes, through no fault of our own, things do not go as expected. Accidents, illnesses and other problems can cause things to go terribly wrong. In other cases, though we might have meant well, we ourselves make mistakes that causes problems for ourselves or others. This can put us in a tailspin that is hard to recover from. The ultimate challenge is to rise to whatever the challenge demands and use every resource we can muster to overcome the problems involved. The problem with most challenges is where to turn for help. Some things are fairly straightforward, but others take expert help. Asking for help may be the best first step in finding answers. Then, persistence may be required to sustain the effort it takes find the right solutions.
“Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.” James 1:12. May God’s love strengthen you!