I was whining about some injustice to my friend, and she said, well maybe this issue is there to keep you open to the lesson.

Now this stopped me, full stop.  My buddhist ears pricked up.  She wasn’t saying the issue was teaching me a lesson or that it had a silver lining.  She was saying the issue ensured that I needed a connection to a deeper source of wisdom and sustenance, in the here and now.  Saying that it was something precious in my life. Pointing out that living with it, unresolved, provided skillful means.

This brand new thought was a most precious gift.  And it wasn’t even my birthday.