Very little in life guarantees a successful outcome. The world changes constantly. Accidents can happen and a whole list of variables can enter the picture. Life is a challenge—and it is good for us to know and accept that. It makes us roll up our sleeves and get to work, and it forces us to be flexible and make changes when needed.

Rudyard Kipling's wonderful poem "If" has much to say about challenges. "If you can meet with triumph and disaster…," he writes, "you'll be a Man, my son." Life is an adventure and if we see it that way, the bumps that come will be stepping-stones to something better and stronger in us.