If Snowflakes Had Feelings....

As I stood outside last night watching the snow softly fall, a strange thought occurred to me. If snowflakes had feelings, what would they feel? My first inclination was that the snowflake I was watching probably felt very insignificant. How could one feel otherwise as one of billions? After all, it's just a snowflake. But as I watched them pile higher and higher, I was struck by the awesomeness of this realization: among all those billions of snowflakes, each one is special and unique, completely different from every other flake.

How many times have we looked around and felt inconsequential, completely ignoring the fact that our Father sees how extraordinary and exceptional we are?

Tonight, I leave you with this thought - take time to appreciate the individuality of those around you....and yourself.

A Bend in the Road

I look down the road to the plans I once had made.
Suddenly, they don't seem as clear.
The road is snowy and much more twisty than I had anticipated.
The end I thought I could see
Is no longer visible. I hesitate. Continue forward?
Or turn around, back to the last place
I knew with certainty that I was safe?
I choose to press on, just a little futher,
Just to see what is around the next corner.
No longer can I see the road, not at all. My usual frantic pace,
Now slowed to a crawl.
Part of me wants to stop and wait out the storm.
Part of me knows it will never pass.
No, I must continue if I am to find my way.
Will this road lead to misery and heartbreak?
Quite possibly.
But that is what will most assuredly be my fate
If I don't find out where it goes.
Sadness, I can tolerate; uncertainty,
What might have been, unthinkable.
Terrified, but exhilarated....around the bend I go,
Where this may lead, who can know?

I've turned into THAT woman!

We all know someone like this. She drives us crazy. We avoid her phone calls and dodge her in the grocery store because we know it's going to be the same conversation. She is going to whine and complain about her boyfriend/husband - current or ex - who is making her life miserable. She's going to ask for our advice and then not follow it. We've told her a million times to dump his sorry cheating butt and, yet, she continues to put up with it.



This week, I am sorry to say, I realized that I am that woman. Here's the story....



I woke up to a peaceful day off - no plans, no errands. I was free as a bird all day. The sun was shining. Birds were singing. Ok, that part was only in my head, but you get the picture.



Dark cloud, thy name is ex-husband.



An incoming text from him immediately sends my mood plummeting and my blood pressure sky rocketing. On a better day, I would have ignored the sarcasm. That day, my fingers did not obey my better judgement. Instead they gave in to the anger and resentment and fired off a scathing response. It was all downhill from there. That rejoinder lead to a volley of texts about why we are no longer together and why things didn't work. I would love to report that it ended with answers and resolution; but, alas, no. It ended the way it always does. More questions than explainations and lots of tears.

As if it weren't bad enough that I gave in to that impulse, what followed was worse. I immediately e mailed my best friend to tell him all about it. He's told me countless times to ignore any texts from the ex and reminded me that they only lead to pain and crying. Do I listen? Heck no. When he tells me that I deserve better, do I believe him? Not a chance. Do I continue to run to him crying and whining every time I get hurt because I did exactly what I shouldn't have done? You know it....every single time.

In the end, if we are really completely honest, we have all been that woman from time to time. When we aren't stumbling down that road ourselves, we all think that it will never happen to us, that we are somehow immune to that particular variety of blindness. Realistically, we will at some point be afflicted by it. So the next time that woman comes crying to you, maybe you could cut her a little slack and try to understand the pain that would cause a person to keep repeating the same pattern. Be a little gentle with her because she is you. She is all of us.