There was a farmer who owned an old mule. The mule fell into the farmer’s well. The farmer heard the mule braying. After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the mule, but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth the trouble of saving. Instead, he called his neighbors together and enlisted them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery.

Initially, the old mule was hysterical! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back, a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back, he would shake it off and step up! This he did, time after time.

“Shake it off and step up. Shake it off and step up,” he repeated to encourage himself. No matter how painful the blows, or how distressing the situation seemed, the old mule fought “panic” and just kept right on shaking if off and stepping up.

It wasn’t long before the mule, battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of that well! What seemed like it would bury him actually helped him… all because of the manner in which he handled his adversity.

That’s like life. If we face our problems and respond to them positively, and refuse to give in to panic, bitterness or self-pity… the adversities that come along to bury us usually have within them the very real potential to benefit us.