There sits atop our kitchen hutch a small wooden plaque that reads:

Every problem is an opportunity in disguise.

My mother gave it to me years ago because she said it reminded her of my look on life. We all have a problem with problems.   We analyze them, strategize about them, fuss over them and complain about them. And yet they continue to cast a dark cloud over our day, our week, sometimes our life.

Problems are like a plague. They present themselves at seemingly inopportune times. They are like stumbling stones. They get in the way, irritate us, and cause us to lose footing. They place limits on our abilities and dreams. They hurt when we run into them. Problems interrupt our plans and our confound our lives. The most pervasive of problems humble us and bring us quite to the end of ourselves.

And yet, it’s as true just as it is cliché; just as stumbling blocks can be used as stepping-stones our problems fuel our imagination to see life from a different angle. Seeing problems as opportunities changes our perspective and allows us to focus on solutions that bring us to a higher level of living.

We know it’s true of simple mental and physical challenges that sharpen our acuity.  We know that problems test our patience and develop our character. But what about real problems like a threat to your financial security, cancer, chronic pain, and sorrow? What opportunity is there to be found in these life crushing problems?

When focus on problems we only see frustration and pain and sorrow. When we shift our focus from our problems we are able to see new opportunities, even renewed purpose for living. I’m accustomed to thinking there is one way I typically do things. Not only that, but it seems like the right and natural way. It serves a good purpose. They’ve worked for me this far in life, why change? My ways are comfortable to me but they blind me to new opportunities.

Enter the problem that forces us to reevaluate the way we live, to examine even our dreams, and our purpose for living. Perhaps the more unsolvable a problem is, the more opportunity it presents to refine our lives. Consider the impossible problem extreme heat presents to precious metal. There is no resisting the force of the fire; the metal has no choice but to melt in the fire. But watch what happens. As the fire intensifies, the impurities in the metal rise to the surface. When the impurities are skimmed off, all that remains is the pure and precious metal. “How do you know when the metal is pure?” asked a novice of the refiner. “When I can see my reflection in it,” replied the master refiner.

And so it is with us. The larger problems that beset us act as a fiery furnace that melts us. There is no fighting or strategizing, or controlling what confronts us. We feel trapped precisely because there is no escape. But when we find ourselves completely melted and humbled at the hands of the master refiner, we see the impurities that dull our lives. No longer, “I need this,” or “I must have that to be happy.” No longer, “It’s either all or nothing,” in our demands for quality of life.

In the heat of the fire we see the reflection of who we were really created to be, the very image of the one who created us. It changes us and transforms us. Life is made more valuable when we surrender the impurities of our demands and the insistence of “my way.”

Every problem is an opportunity to trust God, to draw closer to him, to let him melt away the impurities of our insistent demands, and to see the opportunities he gives to live a truly transformed life in the presence of the problems we face.

We don’t any of us pray for problems, but when they come, let’s use them as an opportunity to transform our lives and become who we were meant to be.