What I Know About Life

What I know about life is that it's unpredictable. It is not possible to wake up in the morning and know what a day will contain, not possible to know if we'll have many blessings, or a few, not possible to know from one minute to the next what's ahead.
    We may be feeling misplaced and frustrated one minute, and have our hearts touched a second later, simply because we looked out a window  and saw a small child, sitting absolutely still, totally entranced with a tiny bird- or the opposite. Perhaps we're watching the news and feel our stomachs tighten, feel the wetness of our tears as we watch the Twin Towers coming down. The horror of the moment leaves us numb, forces us to know that nothing will ever be the same.
     Tragedies exist in  life - but so do miracles. I have experienced many difficult moments in my lifetime, but the Lord always created a masterpiece out of what I saw as worthless.
    Life can be a paradise on earth or feel like hell on earth, depending upon our beliefs, who, or what, is at the center of our hearts, and what kind of men and women we are.
   What I know about life is that no matter how difficult things get, tomorrow always comes, and with it, new opportunities. I know that no matter how difficult or how painful the trial, it will, at some point come to an end - that it won't always rain. It's good to know that- to remember it, because sometimes, like now, when I'm having to cope with so much I  get to missing the former days. I walk for hours in the corridors of my mind, stopping here and there, enjoying once more, the slower paced life.
    I stop at the house where I met the first love of my life, the boy with the 1,ooo watt smile; ride for hours on his maroon and white bicycle. I stroll through the small town market and purchase a dill pickle for a nickle- walk in the hot sun back to our house and swim for hours in our swimming pool, the only one in town.
   I go down another corridor and find my mother, sitting in her rocking chair, drinking her coffee and having her morning toast. She's been gone for many years now. But even so, when I get overwhelmed I go seek her out, sit still in her presence, and listen again to the words she spoke.

    "You can't please everybody, Barbara. Just do your best and don't worry about the rest. Tomorrow will always take care of itself. Yes, things are rough now. I know how scary that is. But you'll be okay. Just don't forget that fear only has as much power as you give it. Betrayal? There are no words when it comes to that, honey. Each person has to work it out in their own way. I can tell you this though. It's not the forgiving that is hard- but the forgetting."
     She was such a wise woman, always had the right answers, and though she could have been hard on me- she never ever was. She'd just say, after I'd made a huge mistake. "It's not as if I've never made any. What matters is that we learn from them. Learn! Okay?"
    I'm still trying to learn; still trying to come to terms with how difficult and unpredictable a thing life is. I finally figured it out. Life runs on opposites.
A baby is born- a baby dies; a couple marries- a couple divorces; the sun rises- the sun sets; a man gets hired- a man gets fired. Understanding that life runs on opposites makes accepting its disappointments much easier. At least for me.

   
My apologies for the way this is thrown together. I've not slept much, have a lot on my mind, have a lot on my plate at the moment. Writing it all out helps, even if it makes little sense to you. (Hope some of it does).

Have  an awesome day.
Remember, life is short, so create some beautiful memories.




    BARB
  

    
   



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