I love the conversations that happen in the comment section. That’s the main reason I installed Disqus, because when I reply to you, it emails you to let you know. And that turns a comment into a conversation.
I fell away from replying as regularly for awhile there because I was saving my sore fingers. I have so many emails to return and posts to write that by the time I would work on those tasks, I wouldn’t have the power in my hands to put the words on the screen that I was thinking in my head. And that didn’t sit well with me.
Because I love your comments. And I love the conversation.
So I am more apt now to return a comment than an email when my hands are tired, and this week proves that is a good decision. I love finding out what you all are thinking, how you handle the situations you find yourselves in, how you are inclined to act when life sneaks up on you.
I was re-reading the comments you all left on my Monday Morning Confession, and what I noticed is that we all have different ways of getting to the exact same place. And I love that about us. How we are so unique and handle life so differently… all to get to the same outcome.
To get to the joy.
To get to the peace that we find at His feet.
Since I’ve been in bed more, I find myself watching some of my standby movies, one of which is Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.
I love the southern charm, the spunk, the heartbreak and the laughter. I love the insane and complex relationship between Sida and her mother. They are so different, and approach life from totally different angles, only to wind up in the same place. With each other.
There’s a scene when Sida is sitting around with her mom’s friends, called the Ya-Yas. They are there to convince her to come back and make peace with her mother… and when she tells them no, one of them tells her not to get all scrappy. To which she replies, “That’s just it… I don’t want to get all scrappy!”
[Watch the movie… it’s fantastic the way she delivers that line…]
I’m like Sida. I don’t want to get all scrappy. I don’t want the drama. I don’t want to be sad or frustrated or discouraged. I see life for what it is, and I figure the faster I accept it and roll with the punches the faster I can get back to being happy.
Now her mother, on the other hand… she leans into the drama. There is a scene at the end of the movie when she tells Sida that she likes to take a problem and chew on it until all the flavor is gone, then she takes it out and sticks it in her hair.
Such a great line.
And some of you who commented go more in that direction… you lean into the hurt. You chew on it and turn it around and examine it. Then, when you’ve made your way through it, you stick it in your hair as a life lesson.
My point is, our ways of dealing with the pain or the frustration or the sadness… they look different. We have different ways of getting to the joy. We travel different roads that don’t have the same kind of scenery. We reach our destinations at different times and at different paces.
But we all go through it. I don’t like to get all scrappy, but the exhaustion and sadness and frustration find me anyway. Just like it finds you. There is no way around hard times… they hit us all. And no matter what your plan is to keep your joy, no matter how many routes there are to get to the destination, we all wind up at the same place with the same travel companion.
We travel the journey with God at our side, whether we always see Him there or not. We are never alone, whether it feels like we are or not. So get scrappy or don’t. Chew on the problem until the flavor’s gone or throw it away when you feel like you’ve had enough. Do whatever it takes, for however long it takes.
Just keep walking in faith.
It’s the only thing we all have to do the same.