Life is one giant mixty-mixed up beautiful mess.
Because one minute you can be packing up your son's room and driving a Uhaul to his new apartment, shedding bittersweet tears as you finally drive home at 11:30 pm after a very long day...
and the next you can be digging in the dirt, planting flowers in your pots that will bloom in all their beauty for the rest of the summer.
One minute you can be picking up your far-away daughter from the airport and heading to a mini-vacation at the ocean, happiness spreading all the way to your toes...
and the next you can answer your phone early one morning and the sound of your hurting friend on the other side sparks anger and searing grief over what is happening to her.
One minute you can be saying hello to the sunshine of a cloudless day, looking forward to a weekend with friends who've traveled far and wide to be together for a respite outside the rush...
and the next you can be waking up to the pitter-patter of rain, knowing it's all coming to an end and sad goodbyes have already been said and will be said again in just a few hours.
Life is cheery one minute... and angry the next.
Filled with rainbows and sunsets one minute... and puddles of tears the next.
Charcuterie boards and bike rides one minute... and tough, sacred conversations the next.
Life.
A gift.
Not a perfect gift. Or an easy one.
Not one that is filled with lined rows of predictability. Or one that can be put in a tidy box, wrapped up in a sweet bow.
Not a fancy one. Or an ordinary one either.
But it is a gift.
Filled with surprises. And adventures.
Breath-taking mountains that need to be climbed and where the view is spectacular. And deep and dark valleys that have to be walked through and words cannot touch what's happening deep inside.
That will be unwrapped one day at a time, minute-by-minute, capturing all that makes up what it means to be alive, to be human.
And there's nothing to do but receive it with trepidation and joy and curiosity and gratitude and the deep knowing that it comes straight from the One who loves us and holds our very trembly hands, walking beside us through the beautiful mess of it all.
Comments