That's the Bee's Knees!

Ouch.

     While in high school, when I didn't do hockey, I was running-- a perfect combination of aerobic and anaerobic exercise if done properly.  Doing so, I had to cope with what was commonly known to runners and doctors as "Osgood-Schlatter's disease."  It sounds scary and painful (yes, it hurt pretty bad at times), but in short, it's a knee condition where bone plates (tibertuberosity) stick out of where they usually were to make room for the rest of your knee bones closest to your shin to grow and develop.  At times, I would complain to my coach and I would complain to my physical trainer about the sharp pain.  Through it, I would avoid running as much as possible because it hurt so much.  It got to the point where it hurt so much that I was thinking about quitting sports altogether.  Running through it isn't the most pleasant thing in the world, but the biggest assurance that I got from the doctors was that it was only temporary; it would enable me to become [taller] than I was before.

     In sports and also in life, there are many occasions where we may think, "oh crap, a challenge."  Once we see such, it may get worse and worse until we get to the point where we want to give up.  Bluntly speaking, life sucks.  .  For the most parts, it really isn't the funnest thing in the world.  Paradoxically, the reasons why it sucks makes it beautiful.  From it, there are going to be times when for even a brief second, the problems will be gone and we can cherish what matters to us.  In one challenge and another, we know that they are temporary and are for our own good.  The adversity we face can cripple us where it matters most-- for a time.  It may not look like we can bear such a difficulty, but time will pass and we will succeed, keeping such experience handy in the fountain of our knowledge.  The joint will heal and make way for even further growth until we are complete.  Remember that everything here in Earth is only temporary-- our problems are more temporary, quicker-lasting than the happiness we will receive both here and in heaven.

     Life thought about in the temporal sense will only bring us pessimism, however, if it is thought in an eternal perspective, the fact that once we pass on, we will be resurrected with perfected bodies and see our families again and live on forever with God, there's an old saying in one of the Church's hymns: "all is well, all is well."