When I think of my favorite family vacation growing up, it would have to be our trip to Cody, Wyoming. Why? Because I learned how to tread water and I bought polished rocks. Who doesn’t buy polished rocks on a vacation in Wyoming? Oh sure, you can visit Yellowstone, go to a rodeo, experience a dude ranch, or learn about Buffalo Bill. But until you have purchased polished rocks, you haven’t actually had a successful Wyoming experience.

I still remember what my polished rocks looked like. I kept them in a little pouch and would pull them out once in a while to organize and admire them.

It is quite a process to polish your own rocks. I remember my dad buying a polishing machine and setting it up in our garage. We loaded it with rocks from the neighborhood. The churning and turning of the polisher was an incredibly loud, not to mention long, process. But it was worth it. In the end, the rocks shone. Their true colors came through. They were smooth to the touch. They were beautiful.

Do you ever feel like one of the rocks—a little rough around the edges, waiting to be polished and made beautiful? Sure, it takes time, and the process hurts a little sometimes. But it is worth it. Each time we are polished, we become a little more beautiful. And, just like the best part of a Wyoming experience is the polished rocks, the best part of life’s experience is becoming refined and polished!

The other thing I’ll always remember about Cody, Wyoming, is learning how to tread water. We talked our dad into taking us out to the pool one evening. Dads are so good about getting the pool, even when it’s cold or dark. My husband does that with our kids too. I like to sit on the edge where it’s warm and dry and cheer them on. But not dads. They get in. And this time in the pool, our dad played with us for what seemed like hours. He took me to the deep end, where the water was well above my head, and taught me how to move my arms and legs so that my head stayed above the water. It was fun. I liked it. I liked knowing that if I had to survive in deep water I could. I treaded water for the rest of the night.

Some days it feels like all we do is tread water. And there are times when our heads are barely above the water line. But we keep going, we keep trying, because eventually we know we’ll get to rest on the side. We’ll have little reprieves here and there until life gets busy and we tread again.

Ultimately all the polishing and treading makes us strong. It brings out our true colors and our beauty. We come to know that we can survive the difficult things. We can keep our lives above water. We can go through the Refiner’s fire. And in the end it will be worth it!