Want Joy? Remember He’s the Sandpaper. You’re the Wood.

Everyone is in our lives for a reason. Someone annoying you today? Thank him. Thank him because your soul needs him to learn a spiritual lesson. You need the annoying driver in front of you to teach you patience. You need the surly sister to show you acceptance. You need the challenges from your spouse or partner or son or daughter or mother or father or your neighbor to teach you what you’re here on earth to learn.

Look at it this way: He’s the sandpaper and you’re the wood. He has to be rough and grating on you because that is the only way you will become smooth and beautiful.

Don’t complain. Thank them, thank them, thank them. Whoever is in your life who is causing you difficulties is cause for celebration. You will grow from them. You will learn from them.

Want joy? Want transformation? Look at things in their opposite way. Remember that if someone is causing me trouble today, I have something important to learn. He’s the sandpaper. I’m the wood.

Hit Like if you agree. For more interesting tips on finding joy, check outDenise Scarbro: 4 Tips to Help you manifest positive outcomes in your life.

Oh and see the photo? It’s the sandpaper vine. Did you know sandpaper was so graceful, so pretty, so purple?

Pass this onto you friends!

About dianabletter

Diana Bletter is the author of several books, including The Invisible Thread: A Portrait of Jewish American Women (with photographs by Lori Grinker), shortlisted for a National Jewish Book Award. Her novel, A Remarkable Kindness, (HarperCollins) was published in 2015. She is the First Prize Winner of Moment Magazine's 2019 Fiction Contest. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Commentary, tabletmag, Glamour, The Forward, The North American Review, Times of Israel, and is a reporter for Israel21C, and many other publications. She is author of Big Up Yourself: It's About Time You Like Being You and The Mom Who Took off On Her Motorcycle, a memoir of her 10,000-mile motorcycle trip to Alaska and back to New York. She lives in a small beach village in Western Galilee, Israel, with her husband and family. She is a member of the local hevra kadisha, the burial circle, and a Muslim-Jewish-Christian-Druze women's group in the nearby town of Akko. And, she likes snowboarding and climbing trees.

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2 Responses to Want Joy? Remember He’s the Sandpaper. You’re the Wood.

Marylin Warner says:

August 16, 2012 at 1:02 pm

“The sandpaper that smooths the wood…”
What a new (and wonderful) way to look at the annoying, challenging people in our live. Thank you.

- dianabletter says:
  
  August 17, 2012 at 11:32 am
  
  Thank you for your comment! It helps me to remember that if I change the way I look at things, the things I look at change…