For a variety of reasons that are both embarrassing and somewhat tedious to discuss, I have spent my entire life fascinated by the question of constraints, which is not really a common area for people to pay attention to. For me, life has always been somewhat complicated, complicated not only by my own personality and its twists and turns, or those of the complicated people I know and complicated situations I seem to find myself in on a regular basis, but also by the complication that there are always many factors that must be considered in making decisions, and that the constraints that we are under as beings make a huge difference in what we are able to do.

We are accustomed to thinking of constraints as a bad thing. After all, constraints are limits (which we do not tend to appreciate when our own behavior is limited) or trade-offs (where gains in one area mean losses in another area, where tensions exist between ideals and goals), and we are often inclined to either deny their reality or legitimacy or to minimize their importance. If we are honest with ourselves, though, we will realize there are profound limitations that we work under, limitations of our knowledge and awareness, limitations of time and energy and resources, and limitations of the extent that we can accomplish a variety of competing goals with the same elegant solutions.

Nonetheless, constraints are not bad at all if we take a look at them through a fresh perspective. Rather, despite the pressures that constraints put us under, they often result in far better solutions (and certainly far more beautiful ones) than would be the case otherwise. Let us look at the world of plants, which is far less contentious than the world of people. The plants that grow under no constraints and nearly unlimited resources tend to be weeds (like grain, which is a useful weed, though). Unlimited resources of fertilizer and high-capital farming tends to create plantation monocultures extending over miles and miles of repetitive and bland farmland growing corn or cabbage or wheat or some other crop. On the other hand, where plants grow under heavy constraints and very limited resources, one often finds beautiful desert or semi-desert flowers, or rich and diverse Mediterranean climates. Sometimes, in the world of plants, it is the need to steward limited resources that provides the opportunities for elegance and beauty.

We ought to be sensitive to the possibility that this may also be the case for human life. Obviously, some resources are necessary to live a good life, but it is quite possible that the best life results from having enough resources but not having too many, and in having to balance and manage one’s constraints to the best overall effect. Having too many resources of time and money often leads to foolish and corrupt indulgences and the cultivation of the weeds of immoral living. Having too few resources leads to a great deal of stress and privation, neither of which are either enjoyable or likely to result in beauty. But having just enough resources can lead to great elegance and beauty, as well as the cultivation of virtue and self-discipline, which are very necessary if we are to live good and moral lives on this earth.

Rather than raging against our constraints, we ought to be grateful that we have the opportunity to build our strength through pressure and opposition. After all, it is working against constraints that allows us to develop our creativity, to work our mental and physical muscles, develop our self-control, create better plans and proposals that demonstrate our genuine options, and then force us to react in a situation with genuine stakes. All of this makes us more resilient people better able to make decisions, learn from our mistakes, and grow in the practice of godly principles that are easy to know but difficult to do. We should therefore be happy when we are placed in situations that induce us to act on our beliefs and our principles, even if those circumstances are less than ideal.

For if we are truly concerned with making the most of our limited (constrained) time here on this earth, we need to be focused on the best end result of our life for ourselves and others. We should rejoice in having experiences that develop our character, make us stronger and wiser and more compassionate people, force us to develop capabilities and gifts we never recognized or even suspected within ourselves, because it is not the suffering or tension of the moment but the lasting benefits that result from our growth and learning that ultimately makes the biggest differences. All things work together for the good for the good because our eventful lives, including horrible tragedies and difficult circumstances, give us the strength and drive to become better people, to make this world a better place as much as we can, and because we recognize that we cannot do this alone, but are part of a much larger whole, giving our lives and our choices both context and meaning.

Human beings are, after all, creatures much like butterflies. We spend most of our existences as caterpillars which are not that impressive to look at, which eat plants and generally muck about in this world, and it is easy for those who are too cynical to think that grubby caterpillars are all we are. But a caterpillar was not made to be a grubby worm, but rather was meant to become a butterfly. In order to do that, though, it has to change in a cocoon and then fight through the constraints of that cocoon, building the muscles needed to fly by fighting out of its shell until finally it is free to flutter about as a beautiful butterfly. And such is the case for us all, if we see our constraints as opportunities for growth rather than as obstacles to happiness and success. Just like with butterflies, it is our constraints that make us beautiful, more beautiful than we could ever have imagined.