This is our time. Do you believe that? Today, we hold in our hands the opportunity to lean into the uncomfortable… into the “most difficult.”
Yesterday, our family hiked the Canyons of the Ancients. A couple of miles in, we came across this sign and had to decide which path to choose. Together, we decided to take on the “most difficult” because after all, that’s what this #mobilebiosphere adventure is all about.
Have you found that challenges often bring out the best of our compassion, innovation and creativity? We are like gold being refined in the fire.
The Egyptian process for refining gold was documented by a Greek historian named Diodorus Siculous. Reading about it, I found the process carries some relevant parallels to our lives today.
You see, in ancient times, mined gold was placed inside a clay vessel and sealed. Within that small, enclosed space, the gold was placed inside the fire for five days.
Then, sitting in a fire raging over 1000 degrees Celsius, the metals melt and separate one from the other. Gold sinks to the bottom, while impurities rise to the surface. When the vessel is finally opened, the gold has been purified.
We’re all in the fire, are we not? How are impurities surfacing in our lives? Where are the chinks in our armor beginning to show, and what can we learn from them? Only when we vulnerably acknowledge those impurities, can we learn from them. And as we learn, those impurities rise to the surface and can be skimmed away.
While closed into our small spaces, let us become refined during this tumultuous time.
And may we emerge as pure gold.
References: gold.org, peaseandcurren.com, britannica