The radiance of the surmountable

I've been enjoying a delightfully laid back time with our daughter this morning.  She's back from two months in Australia with stories to tell and gifts to share, a glorious picture of radiant health and confidence, delighted to be back in the cool grey Northwest after the heat and humidity of Sydney.

We know, when we send our children off into the world, that there will be challenges; it is, of course, our hope that meeting those challenges will give them a greater awareness of their own native strength and courage (and I'm so grateful it worked out that way for her).

So doesn't it make sense that our own challenges are meant to give us that same kind of awareness?  Whatever we're facing, whatever difficulty is consuming us at the moment -- can we take that parental step back, out of time and into the big picture, and see the radiance it will engender within us when we finally overcome?