I’m told the story is true…A woman was giving birth to a baby in an elevator at a hospital. When she complained about the location, a nurse said, “Why, this isn’t so bad; last year a woman delivered her baby out on the front lawn.”

“Yes,” said the woman on the floor, “that was me, too.”

Who said, “If I didn’t have bad luck I wouldn’t have any luck at all”? But, on the other hand, not all “bad luck” should be considered a bad thing! Like someone said, “When life gives you a kick, let it kick you forward.”

In the 1920s, Ernest Hemingway learned something about “bad luck” and getting kicked by life. He was struggling to make his mark as an author when disaster struck. He lost a suitcase containing all his manuscripts — many stories he’d polished to jewel-like perfection — which he’d been planning to publish in a book.

According to Denis Waitley in his book EMPIRES OF THE MIND (William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1995), the devastated Hemingway couldn’t conceive of redoing his work. All those months of arduous writing were simply wasted.

He lamented his predicament to friend and poet Ezra Pound who called it a stroke of good fortune! Pound assured Hemingway that when he rewrote the stories, he would forget the weak parts; only the best material would reappear. He encouraged the aspiring author to start over with a sense of optimism and confidence. Hemingway did rewrite the stories and eventually became one of the major figures in American literature.

Don’t pray for fewer problems, pray for more skills. Don’t ask for smaller challenges, ask for greater wisdom. Don’t look for an easy way out, look for the best possible outcome. When life gives you a kick, let it kick you forward.

© 2000 Steve Goodier

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