When I cleanse my heart and mind of old thoughts bogging me down, I find renewed strength to face the day’s challenges.

Some of us live our lives just like that, waiting for bad stuff which never comes. We worry that we could become ill; we could lose our job; we could lose our marriage. But maybe, we won't. Maybe it just won't snow that day, but like the man in the salt truck, we are so focused on waiting for the bad, we fail to see the beauty happening all around us.

That thing which hurts so much today won’t hurt forever. In time and with time, you’ll conquer the problem; you’ll fix what needs fixing, deal with what needs dealing, heal what needs healing.

Sometimes life seems such a heavy burden to bear. We let problems grow out of proportion. It swallows us up. We lie trapped under a pile of dirty dishes, unable to move, unable to find the way.

So we hide. We create lives we show the outside world which hide who we really are. Only problem is, that pretend life never does fit as comfortably as real life. We feel the drain of carrying this other life around with us all the time.

Instead of giving up and giving in to the pain, the oyster fights back, and in the process, creates something beautiful. It makes something good out of something bad. 

When life presents unexpected challenges, just keep winding up the slack, keep moving forward, even if it's at a slower pace and even when the future is uncertain. Remember, you aren't alone in the boat; we all have our line in the water we call life.

And, so must we all learn, that though we may not be free of struggles, we are free in how we face life’s challenges. 

It’s hard to believe that tomorrow will be better when yesterday’s tomorrow wasn’t. When pain lasts so long, it’s hard to believe that any tomorrow will be better. But it will.