Shake it Off and Step Up

I've always rooted for the underdog. There's something about seeing someone who has triumphed over obstacles that is really inspiring.  One of my favorite Jewish stories is about a farmer who tosses his donkey with a broken leg into a dirt pit and attempts to bury him figuring his best days are behind him. Hold on...I know this is not starting out well but you'll see where I'm going with this in a minute.  It does get inspiring!  The farmer starts to dig dirt and shovel it down on top of the donkey.  Each time he feels a shovel full of dirt fall on top of him the donkey shakes it off.  As the dirt begins to pile up he shakes it off and steps up on top of the dirt that came down on the shovel full before.  He's not operating on full capacity with the broken leg but each time the dirt comes down he shakes it off and steps up.  Eventually all the dirt that came down created a mound that was high enough for him to use to climb out of the pit.  

What was ultimately meant to bury him he used to walk right out of the pit.  This happens to all of us in life, too.  We take hits; we have situations we're not expecting or difficult people in our lives that are unavoidable.  Each pile of dirt that G-d shovels down on top of us is an opportunity to elevate ourselves to another level of growth.  It's not always easy to shake off a difficult situation and there are times when you could potentially be working with a "broken leg" but I promise you if you can shake each situation off and step up you will come out of that pit a whole lot stronger and operating on a whole other playing field.