When Life Gives You Lemons...

How do we find the strength to live well?

I’ve always pondered this question. How do people who are facing huge challenges in their lives manage to keep going? More than that, how do they not only keep going, but reach into their souls and live well, live kindly, live inspirationally?

Photo by Ty Williams on Unsplash

When my Dad was 60, the same age as I am now, he went skiing for the first time. I was amazed by his courage in trying something new. He had always been a good sportsman - one of those people who was just good at anything he turned his hand to. I felt so proud of him as he snowploughed down the pistes, face white with zinc suncream. He loved the experience, loved the mountains, loved the singing in the bars afterwards.

Within 2 years he was dead. Almost immediately after the holiday he began to experience a dry cough which turned out to be fibrosis of the lung. Gradually the lung begins to turn to scar tissue, making breathing difficult and then impossible. A slow, painful death, a steady suffocation.

And through it …