Plum Blossoms

It's winter time in Iowa once again.  If you know Iowa, you know blistering wind-chills, two-feet-deep snow, and scraping the windshield every morning before work.
This time of year also reminds me of a quote by Hakudo Nakayama:

Plum blossoms open because of the frost and snow.

 

 This is a beautiful metaphor that sometimes the hardest and roughest times bring out the best of us.  I can think of many times in my own life that this has proved to be very true.  How about you?