ADVERSITY

Today my sweet daughter spoke in church.  She did such a good job.  She wrote her talk by herself and was very composed and and spoke so nice.  The woman who spoke after her got up and told the congregation that she asked Ally what she is most nervous to do speak in church or sing.  Ally said..." oh I am not nervous to do either of them!!"  I love her confidence.  Anyway she got a poem book John's grandfather Daniel Darrow Thomas wrote and found this poem.  I love it too and thought I would share it with you.

Adversity

A youth one day in idle play

Saw on a leaf a cocoon lay,

And within, struggling in its birth

A Butterfly of wondrous worth 

Was fighting for its destiny.

And with compassion in his heart 

He tore its prison walls apart

To let the lovely creature free

From all its toil and misery

That it might spread its wings in flight.

But as he watched with loving eyes,

The new born creature did not rise,

Nor did its fragile wings it spread

But lifeless lay----its spirit fled,

Its hopes and aspirations dead.

A man who does not have to fight

For home, and love, and strength, and light,

Never in the eternal plan

Rises to become a man,

But lives and dies as he began.

This the law of adversity,

The fiercer the wind, the stronger the tree,

The harder the toil, the greater the reward,

The truer the steel, the sharper the sword,

The higher the climb, the farther the view,

Till lo, all eternity lies before you.

Daniel Darrow Thomas

March 18, 1977

I loved this poem.  Life is not always easy, but I think our trials make us stronger and define our personalities.  Allyson did so good with this talk, I was very proud of her.