Reflection

It's not the big moments in life that define us. Nope. Not the moment we say "I do," the second our first child is born. It's the millions of experiences that splice in and out of every day that shape and mold us into the people we are. Not only are each person's experiences radically different in sequence and scope, but every individual's lens of perception is unique.  DNA assures us of this. Something else moves our lens about, wobbles the shape. That something is the very thing we are viewing through it...the experiences themselves. Every human being is on a unique trajectory. Some of what happens to us is our own doing, some is the result of living in a very fallen world. And the glorious best is what happens because we are, for the few seconds that we are, in perfect sync with our Creator and His best plan for our lives.

I might be getting stronger. Might be. (Disclaimer: any strength I currently have is the result of God living in and breathing through me. My ability to stand is rooted in His strength, and the fact that He refuses to let me fall.) A better way to say this is that I am learning to lean on God more consistently.

I will strive to let what I have experienced help me to help others. I have been smashed...utterly crushed to powder by circumstances and my own silly way of dealing with them, then pieced back together by a loving heavenly Father who remains immeasurably patient with me as I navigate the channels and backwaters of a life I never planned to live. Not at the beginning, at least. Not as a hopeful, young college student. I am beginning to see that, in the brackish sludge of a slough my little canoe was forced down, there is a reflection on the water. That reflection is hope. That reflection is peace. That reflection is joy. It tells of many things to come.Good things. It whispers of a life that will be all the richer for the fight. All the better for the struggle. All the deeper for the pursuit of God in the midst of the storm.