Pushing the rocks!

There is an old story about a man who is asked by God to push a rock.
The rock is large in size, but the man tries. He pushes and strains... no movement.
The man puts his back into it. Bears his might... no movement.
The man puts every ounce of strength he has and pushes. Then when he can push no more, he takes a minute to rest and tries once again... still, no movement.
Finally God returns, and the man apologizes. "I'm so sorry, I just could not move the rock."
God smiles at the man and tells him, "I didn't ask you to move the rock. I asked you to push it."

This short story contains a great deal of wisdom... Many times in our spiritual journeys, we find tasks that are exceedingly difficult. For me, one of these difficult tasks is finding the time and will to wake up early in the morning to pray on a daily basis. Extremely difficult for someone who is a self-professed night owl. Considering that some nights I fall asleep when I'm supposed to be waking up to pray, it's a hard task, and one that I'm still working towards doing. However, I know many others who are similar of temperament who have completely given up. They see the size of the rock and say that, "since it's way too big to move, there's no point in trying at all."

I would venture to say that at times, we aren't trying to change our surroundings. At times, we are supposed to change ourselves. If a person strains and pushes at that large rock for enough time, they'll notice a change within themselves. The muscles that they are using will grow stronger, their sense of patience and time will change. They may never move that rock, but maybe they're not supposed to... Maybe there's another, smaller but more important rock that they are supposed to move, and this big rock is just preparation for that task...

We struggle in aspects of our lives because it is necessary. Not everything can be, or should be easy. At times, things must be difficult because we are meant to grow with the experience... There may never be anything we can do about the large rocks in our lives, maybe the obstacles we face are not meant to be overcome, however, the attempt to try... That's where our humanity comes in. Throughout our history, we have never failed to at least attempt the most challenging of tasks.

Back to pushing the rock I go, are you coming?