A farmer discovered his donkey had fallen into an old abandoned well. He tried everything he could think of to get the donkey out, but nothing worked. He called several of his farmer friends to come over hoping they had some rescue ideas. All they could do was stare blankly at the situation. “That donkey is old and probably doesn’t have much time left even if it hadn’t fallen in the well,” the farmer reasoned. “I really need to get a young, new donkey anyway.”

With that decided, he handed each of his friends a shovel. He was just going to bury the old donkey. It’s a good thing PETA didn’t hear about this. As the men started throwing in dirt the donkey cried and cried until suddenly it was quiet. Thinking the donkey was dead, the farmer was shocked when he looked down in the well. Each time a shovel full of dirt hit the donkey he shook it off and stepped up on top of it and shook it off and stepped up on top of it and shook it off and stepped up on top of it. Finally the pile of dirt was so high the donkey was able to walk out of the well.

True story? Well... maybe. However, we can all relate to the donkey. Shovels full of dirt hit us every day. Some days it feels like a dump truck backs up and unloads not just dirt, but barnyard litter. It’s not fun, but we have a choice in what we decide to do with it. Do we let it bury us or do we shake it off and step up on top of it? Is it a trial or an opportunity? Is it manure or is it fertilizer? You choose.