“God created Arrakis to train the faithful.” -“The Wisdom of Maud’Dib” by The Princess Irulan.
Arrakis is a harsh desert world. Water has more value than gold. If you don’t die in a Coriolis storm, you may be eaten by a giant sandworm before dying of dehydration. Despite this, people work there mining the spice. People live there simply because it is their home. It is inhabited by hardy fauna and even some flora. Life isn’t easy there, but it is possible.
My interpretation of what Paul Maud’Dib was saying is summed up in the old addage, “This is what separates the men from the boys”. If you can survive through Arrakis, you can survive anything.
Many times in life we face our own Arrakis: hardships that determine if we will be broken or made stronger. Mine have been anxiety issues, IBS, constant lack of money despite constant work, bouts of deep depression and a near-constant whirlpool of deaths surrounding me to fire off a few of the highlights. Yet, I remain. I have uttered those 3 words more times than I care to recall. At first, it was a saddness. But after so many times, so many hard hits and low blows, it has become a phrase of defiance. Through all my personal battles on Arrakis, “yet, I remain”. If God truly created Arrakis to train the faithful, then I feel by now I am a well seasoned warrior. And the challenges keep coming. But ones that might have broken me even a year ago have become no true problem now, for God has sent me to and through Arrakis many times, yet, I remain.
What is your Arrakis? Where do you feel you get the most “training”?
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