Reason #362: Metamorphosis

Posted at August 11, 2010

After yesterday’s incredibly ridiculous post, I thought it would be a good idea to say something remotely intelligent today. Well, I realize that my writing is more “shades of Dr. Suess” than “shades of Hemingway,” but you gotta admit every once and a while I nail the sucker…don’t I? Hey, I enjoy writing it and isn’t that what really matters? Sometimes, I write and then sit back and get a good chuckle out of what I’ve written, like that crazy uncle who is the only one who ever laughs at his own jokes. It amazes me that more than two years after my first post, I sit here lamenting times of severe economic hardship. I have seen countless ups and downs over the course of writing in this blog. I am sure much of that has come through loud and clear. But the blog has helped me through it all and I am very grateful for that. But when times are hard, it pays to put things into perspective. How? By reflecting on all the great things we have that money really can’t buy. Things like good health, folks that you love and that love you back, that amazingly creative problem-solving machine that resides between your clown-like ears, your dog (or, God forbid, cat), that roof over your head, a full stomach, and another day to change for the better and make a difference…just to name a few. Life seems to be, for me at least, in a constant state of metamorphosis and there are stages of it that really seem ugly. But they pass and something beautiful follows. The temptation is to allow tough times to define us…as if they were something we deserve for being inept and not as good as those others who seem to be passing through more elegant phases. But that’s not it, it’s just that you are being re-made into something that at the moment your imagination can’t grasp, but just hold on and you will see. If there is anyone reading this blog who is going through a tough time, I encourage you to take an inventory of what it is you are blessed with and grateful for. I usually entitle this list, What I have going for me right now. The exercise never fails to brighten my spirits and provide some motivation to move forward. The thing you never want to do and that God never intends for you to do, is to stay stuck. There are brighter days to come, but you have to move forward to meet them.