Guest Writer Week: Paul And Nathan Biebel of "Prudent Living"!!

     At Prudent Living we encourage people to plan ahead–to prepare for life’s obstacles in advance so that when troubles arise you can look back and say “I sure am glad I was ready for that” instead of “I should have seen that coming.”

     Unfortunately life doesn’t always warn us ahead of time (actually, it seems like it almost never does).  While there are plenty of times we really should have planned ahead–times when we “should have seen it coming”– there are also times when it feels like you’ve been given a raw deal.  Like the little pine tree above, we might even ask “who put me here?!”

      Let’s pretend you are the little pine tree.  You begin life as a little seed that falls in a place that isn’t exactly perfect for growing.  Because you’re just a seed and you don’t know any different, you just do what little trees do…you grow.  When you become old enough and big enough, you look around and you notice that the other trees around you have it much easier than you, and only then do you begin to think “hey!  Who put me here?!”

       The thing is, you wouldn’t even know your situation wasn’t perfect if you didn’t compare yourself to the other trees.  So consider this question: what good does it do to compare where you’ve been planted to where others have been planted?  You’re just a little tree.  Little trees don’t complain; they grow.
Of course, little trees are not like people.  They don’t have the ability to look around and realize that they have it worse than the other trees.  People, on the other hand, can compare themselves to others.  That can be a good thing, especially when we use it to realize others have it worse than us.  We can use it to discern who needs our help, so that we might give it to those who truly need it.

       Unfortunately, the same ability that allows us to recognize (and sympathize with) those who are worse off than we are, also allows us to recognize when we are like the little tree.  We can tell when we’re the ones who have it rough.  But we need not let that realization inhibit our growth.

       Like the little tree in the photo, even in the most challenging of circumstances, you can grow.  So when life presents you with an obstacle, do you let it get the best of you?  Do you complain that others have it easier?  Do you say “HEY!  Who put me here?!” Or do you mutter “challenge accepted” and set your jaw with the unshakable determination to make the most of “where you’ve been planted?”

-by Paul and Nathan Biebel

      See more articles in their site HERE