If Only
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If only life were so clearly marked. A handbook for life with directions easily marked and understood in steps. What heartache and disappointments could have been averted.
And motherhood, now THAT is a handbook I would pay good money for. Am I right? But alas it is just not that easy, or clear… ever.
Instead we are left to fumble though, learn as we go, improvise, make things up, make mistakes, learn from them if we are lucky, and keep on going. One day at a time. One step at a time. Even if those steps are the literal kind, one foot in front of the other, repeat.
If we are lucky we have friends and family to help us along the way, with guidance and love and understanding. Through shared stories and experience. A tribe. And we DO get through, we DO figure it out, piece by piece, step by step, we write our own handbook even when we aren’t realizing it. Even when we think we can’t. We are creative, persistent, resilient, curious beings. Just think of the beauty we would miss if it were all so clear. True life might then be “cleaner” and easier, but some days the best parts are the messy ones. I truly feel we would not know great joy if we didn’t occasionally suffer great loss.
And so today is a new day. A day to begin again. What will you make with yours?
See more from Everyday Storyteller –Kristin Zecchinelli here.
I know, after suffering loss and traveling the path of grief with healing, that without those messiest of days I wouldn’t have anything to offer another person, nor the depth of empathy, the width of sympathy or the love of Christ that I have now. I understand that losing someone I love is just the middle of the story. The triumph in that situation is going on to love again; embracing a new chance to share life. Great post.