Skip to main content

I Only Wish I'd Realized It Sooner

I read this quote in a magazine last week: "What a wonderful life I've had! I only wish I'd realized it sooner." It spoke to me in such a degree that I ripped it out of the magazine in the waiting room--a larcenous act I would not normally commit.

I look back on the last twenty-nine years I've walked this earth and realize that Colette's words could easily roll off my tongue. My life's tapestry is woven with memories that span from holy to hellish...innocent to scandelous...ecstatic to morbidly depressing. From this vantage point it's a beautiful testament to my Creator and His ability to redeem my soul. Walking through much of it has left me at times shamed and afraid and giddy, but I wouldn't trade those moments because they have all pieced together to form the woman I am today.

Still, all these experiences have left me still yearning for something more. I'm starting to believe that the greatest challenge of my life is bucking my capacity to skate through my life. So much comes naturally to me that I've often chosen to take the easier road instead of the one that will feed my spirit.

Deep within me, I know what I want. I know the vision lurking in my heart waiting for the moment to be unleashed. And yet I fear it. Can I really do it, or have I been fooling myself into believing a lie? Will I make it? What if no one else understands me? Is it worth it the risk? Did I wait too long?

I've already taken the first step. One manuscript is already in the hands of a literary magazine. This is scary. This is downright shake-me-to-my-bones terrifying. This is real life...

Comments

Get it, girl!
<3 Christy

Popular posts from this blog

The Carnival

It's a beautiful Saturday afternoon here in southwest Florida, although still a bit too warm for my November tastes. I'm learning to enjoy my weekends with as much unstructured and unscheduled time as possible. Last Saturday was a delightful unstructured day. A new friend of mine (the one from the Everglades excursion) and I went to a local carnival. Now, here's the thing...I LOVE carnivals. The food. The people. The rides. The lights. I can easily spend an entire day wandering through the crowds. He's no carnival slouch. The first thing we did was walk through the entire place, scoping out the rides. Then the fun began. We rode almost every ride there (except for the kiddie attractions and the broken Tornado). The Wild Claw. The Scrambler. The Orbiter. The Space Oddysey. The Swings. The Pharaoh's Fury. The Ferris Wheel. The Giant Slide. The Haunted House. The Avalanche. It was all good. How can you top a ride that uses centrifugal force to plaster your body against...

Busy Days Ahead

It's been a busy week for me. I left my house at 4:30 Monday morning for my drive down south and pulled back in my driveway at 1:20 this morning. The days have been long, too, between working at the new school from 7:30 until 3:00 or 4:00 and then working at the new place until 9:00 or 10:00 each night. I now have callouses on my fingers and not one intact finger nail. I think I've also developed a new twitch somewhere on my face. One afternoon this week, I stood in the middle of our new living room and took in the sight of missing drywall, a growing hole in the floor and soaked up my husband's predictions that we still won't be ready to paint by the weekend. All I wanted to do was cry. All I felt was nothingness. Numbness. Anyone who has ever reached the point of numbness knows that it's scarier than feeling like you're falling apart. It's one step beyond feeling like you're falling apart. I couldn't help but wonder just what we had gotten ourselves...

Stranger Obligations

I had to make a few difficult decisions this week. At least, they were difficult for me. I wish I could be the kind of person who completely makes decisions based on his/her own needs and wants and boldly moves through life with unabashed freedom from how our choices affect others. But I'm not built like that. I had placed an ad for my former stray. I felt like it was time to find her a more permanent home because so much in my life right now is uncertain. One person answered the ad, but she did not seem like a good fit, and I gave up further thought. This week I received another response. As long as this person is telling the truth, it's an ideal situation for the dog. Yet, I had a strange feeling and could not sort out whether or not it was my intuition kicking in or that fact that I actually like the dog and don't want to see her go. In the end, I decided that it was in my own (and my Winnipeg's) best interest for her to stay with us through the summer. (I seri...