Stories

I love listening to people's stories. From their entire life story to how their dinner date went last night, I love listening to people talk about their life. I guess it's because nobody's story is the same. Each one has it's own intricacies. It's own flaws. It's own flow. But at the same time everyone's story is really quite the same. They came from somewhere. They're doing something. They want to be doing something else. The ebb and flow of life.

You see regardless of what some might say, we are all a part of one story. Our stories aren't the real story. They are the subplots. Each of our stories belongs to the real story. The story of life that began long ago. Each of our lives is a thread in a rich tapestry that is being woven daily. And we don't ever really know what that tapestry is looking like. How the threads of our story are affecting the overall picture. You see each time we take an action, we alter our thread. Every time a thread is changed, the story of the world changes with it.

And quite frankly, sometimes it feels like someone's playing with matches.

Life isn't all flowers and rainbows. It's not butterflies and springtime. Sometimes life sucks. Period. But life can also be wonderful. These things come and go. Sometimes everything feels like it's going the way that you imagined it would. Sometimes it feels like someone is pulling the rug out from under you, then wrapping you in the rug and lighting it on fire. Sometimes we really wonder what kind of messed up tapestry could be possibly be being made right now.

Then it happens.

That one thing that makes you feel like all is right with the world again. The thing that makes you think maybe life could turn out ok after all. That one thing that makes you stop and say "wow, this life really is worth living."

I don't know what that is for you. For me it was an innocent smile and a wave. Nothing major. Happens everyday most likely. But for me it was so much more than that. It was the start of new day. It was like a fresh morning breeze after years of stale breath. Like the sun rising for the first time in centuries of darkness. A sign that there was still hope within this world. That God's promises still ring true. That old can be made new. That life doesn't have to suck all the time. That hope still rises up from the ground anew.

I know it seems like I'm drawing a lot from something so simple as a smile and wave. But the fact of the matter is that for all that has happened in the time I've been writing this blog, I have honestly been looking for any shred of hope. Any one thing that might show that there is still a reason for me to keep writing. To keep pursuing the life I have. And something simple was all I really needed. To breathe again. To hope again. Maybe even to love again. But most importantly, to live again.

Pastor Mama CoCo