Why Were the Graves of So Many Jewish GIs Marked by a Cross?
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The obstacles frustrating you may actually be protecting the growth, strength, and sweetness you’re meant to uncover.
You finally sit down to work on something important and the phone rings. You try to have a calm conversation with your spouse and somehow it turns tense. You set a goal, make a plan, and immediately run into delays, resistance, or frustration.
You were ready for the fruit. Instead, all you got was the peel.
Most of us want a marriage without misunderstandings, friendships without drama, a career without setbacks, children without sleepless nights, and spiritual growth without struggle.
But life isn’t supposed to work that way.
Before something really good emerges, you first must break through a barrier of resistance, confusion, or challenge.
Jewish mysticism teaches, “klipah kodemet la’pri—the peel precedes the fruit.” A klipah is a shell, husk, or peel. However, the Kabbalistic masters use the word figuratively to explain how an external layer conceals, blocks, and even protects something holy until it’s ready to be revealed.
God set up the world so that before something really good emerges, you first must break through a barrier of resistance, confusion, or challenge.
Just like you need to remove the peel of an orange or banana before enjoying the sweet fruit within, you need to get through the “peels” of life before you can achieve your goals.
Don’t resent the peel and view the challenge as only getting in your way. Sometimes the thing you want to discard is protecting the fruit you’re trying to reach.
When life feels too tough to handle and your goals seem completely out of reach, there are five things you can remember to help you get “unstuck,” push forward, and remain positive.
Recognize the function of the peel.
That peel standing in the way of your afternoon snack has been serving a crucial role long before it made its way to your table. It protected the fruit so it could develop properly and guarded its sweetness until it was ready to be eaten.
The same is true with your challenges.
Your struggles strengthen you and prepare you for greatness. In the midst of a difficulty on the path toward achieving your goals, you often need to refine your character in unanticipated ways. Sometimes you become more patient, humble, responsible, or resilient.
Other times, the hardships you encounter and overcome give you the wherewithal to help others do the same when they go through something similar.
The peel you wish to discard turns out to be what nurtures you to lead confidently, help others, and actualize your potential.
When life becomes difficult, you may tend to focus on the pressures, frustrations, conflicts, and disappointments. You may feel stuck, as if you’re never going to get past the peel.
The key to true success is learning to look beneath the surface.
You may not understand why a challenge is happening, but you can still ask, “What inner growth is God asking of me right now?”
That question helps you move from merely enduring the pain of the peel to remembering that there’s fruit beneath it.
It motivates you not only to see purpose in the struggle, but also to proactively look for the growth opportunities hidden inside it.
When something is hard, your instinct is usually to rid yourself of it as fast as possible. You want the problem gone, the pressure removed and to taste the sweetness immediately.
But fruit needs its peel while it’s developing.
Sometimes, the process itself is necessary. The conversation you didn’t want to have may be what deepens the relationship. The responsibility you desperately tried to avoid may be what matures you. The delay you found so frustrating may be what teaches you staying power.
Being met with resistance doesn’t mean something went wrong. It means you’re ripening. Ripping away every peel too early prevents your fruit from fully developing.
You have already passed through many peels.
You faced struggles that once felt overwhelming, perhaps insurmountable. There were moments at work, at home, and in your relationships that felt like they would cause irreparable damage, but they didn’t and you emerged better off because of them.
When you remember how you overcame prior problems, you gain the courage and confidence to move through today’s challenges.
Remembering that the peel precedes the fruit makes you less likely to give up in the middle of the process.
The challenge doesn’t mean the fruit is absent. You understand that the sweetness is still there, hidden, and you just need to keep going.
This reframe gives you staying power and grit, motivating you to keep working on the relationship, showing up for your family, and putting your best foot forward.
The next time you find yourself face to face with a challenge you wish would disappear, remember: it’s the peel – it’s necessary and temporary. The growth, wisdom, and sweetness waiting beneath it are lasting.
