Mulch

My parents had a dump truck load of mulch delivered the day before I stopped in on my weekend travels; my landlord had some delivered about the same time. Both used the mulch to cover up all of the ugliness hiding under plants and to prevent weeds from growing there. But first, it took hours to pull the weeds and prepare for the mulch. Then they spent hours placing that mulch where it needed to go to get it out of the way. However, the hours spent are worth it when you see the beautiful yard and take in that fresh mulch smell.
Sometimes are lives are the same way. We have all of these hard times that we have to go through before something amazing comes. Once it comes, we then realize we have hours of work to be able to know how to use that new thing best in our life. But, in the end, it is worth all of the hard work when we know that our new gift is being used effectively. What new gift did you just receive, or are you still preparing for it?