When you pass the kitchen counter and accidentally bump an apple and then catch it just to realise that you are grabbing a half eaten apple you know that life has a different meaning. So before I lose you, what I am referring to is the surprises that we receive.

Surprise can be good – we normally call surprises we like a surprise – or they can be bad and we don’t like them.  The last mentioned is what we call problems.  It is like grabbing a half-eaten apple and not expecting it.

The specific half-eaten apple I am talking about it was something my 6 year old son did.  He ate half an apple and the rest was left on the kitchen counter.  In many ways his apple that he left me reminded me that raising kids are in some ways the greatest challenge one can ever face.

And, yet, they are also the challenge that shape us, enrich us and ultimately help define us.

It is in the messy mesh of life’s threads that real meaning is created and that half-eaten apple reminded me that the surprises that I don’t want – the problems in life – is an opportunity to stand back and choose to add meaning and define life.

It brought a smile to my face and I realised that without life’s half-eaten apples it’s probably going to get quite boring.