大象传媒

We鈥檝e had a recent drama in our house, Zoe. Perhaps it鈥檚 a rite of passage for every parent 鈥� or that鈥檚 what I鈥檓 telling myself at least to ease the guilt a little鈥� because last week, my son, now 5 months old, managed to lurch out of his new-born highchair, flipping himself from lying flat on his back to landing face first on our kitchen floor. It was a drop of about a metre, so you can only imagine the almighty thump I heard as my back was turned, picking up jigsaw pieces!

听

And oh, the tears that were shed! It was painful for him. And painful for me. For Teddy, the shock of a first injury and at realising his growing strength; for me, more of an emotional pain - the mortification of having left him unaccompanied for a minute and, for once, (murphy鈥檚 law鈥�) not having strapped him in, and at then soothing the sobs of this previously unscathed babe.

听

Once we鈥檇 both dried our eyes, I put Teddy in a much sturdier contraption that wriggling limbs can鈥檛 possibly find their way out of.听 For my own sanity, I needed to swiftly move on, learn from the pain and make some progress in the wake of it.

听

This is so often the way in life I find. Pain and progress accompanying one another; coming hand-in-hand.

听

In her book, Love Warrior, the incredible Glennon Doyle refers to pain as the 鈥渢ravelling professor鈥�, paying a visit to us all. She says, 鈥渢he wisest ones say, 鈥榗ome in and sit down and don鈥檛 leave until you鈥檝e taught me what I need to know.鈥欌��

听

I love this idea of repackaging pain or uncomfortable experiences, seeing them as opportunities for growth. But even better is the thought that it鈥檚 not despite difficult experiences that we grow, but it鈥檚 actually because of them that we do.听

听

The book of Proverbs contains lots of biblical wisdom, and there鈥檚 an encouraging verse in there that says, 鈥渇or a righteous person falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in听times of听disaster.鈥�

听

To me, it expresses that our challenges create our greatness. Though I live in hope that a high-chair calamity of the kind we had last week will be a one-off event, certainly not to be endured seven times!