How comfortable would you be if the metal in your dream home was only strong enough to support the house during fair weather? You’d be uncomfortable and consider that house with the unreliable metal structure a poor investment of your time and money. You’d also find it unsafe during inclimate times and impractical for everyday use because of its unpredictability. When you ignore, depress or suppress your mettle you lose the ability to be reliable and structurally sound to yourself and to others. In other words, during those “hanging in there” moments when situations rock you, you don’t have the intestinal fortitude and wherewithal to push through and past them. Your structure is weak and unpredictable. Mettle builds character all-year round, in both good and bad times.

Challenges come to test your mettle. Brutal and scorching, they force you to be strong so that you can bear fruit. You can’t wallow in self pity and aggrandize about the emotional strain you feel. You haven’t time. The orange seed has timeframe for which it must grow into an orange tree and a season in which it must produce fruit. You, too, have a timeframe for which you must grow and develop and a season in which you must bear fruit.