Friday, September 12, 2014

Love alone is worth the fight...

I was really conflicted over the purpose of this post, and even now I'm not 100% sure where this will end up, but sometimes you just need to write. 

The past few months have been full of a lot of ups and downs, both personally and professionally, and it's interesting once you're on the other side to look back and see how you changed through it all.  Pretty sure I'm not 100% there yet either.  But I feel like somewhere along the way I started to see things a little differently.  I'm not sure I can fully explain it, but it's like there was this slow shift in priorities taking place.  In a way it was like trying to get back to the basics of being me, or maybe even trying to figure out who I really am. 

And here's what I know so far...some parts of me haven't changed.  I am still a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a friend, and a superbly stubborn, unabashedly honest, quasi-perfectionist.  But the new parts...the ones I wasn't as aware of (or maybe less comfortable with)...are just as important.  And those parts, the parts that I am still working to discover, have been both surprising and expected all at the same time. 

I have always considered myself an emotional person, a product of always wearing your heart on your sleeve I guess, but lately I have been finding emotion in some of the most simple, ordinary things.  And I love that.  But it's not super surprising. 

The more unexpected discovery is how that emotion is transforming into an overwhelming sense of compassion and this desire to just love on people.  Sometimes all it takes is realizing that on some level we are all hurting and struggling and longing to be accepted and loved.

It's during weeks like this, where we pause to remember, grieve, and raise awareness, that I realize over the past few months and years I have truly fallen in love with wanting people to know how important, unique, and irreplaceable they are.  I want them to share their stories.  Of struggle, success, failure, heartache, love...whatever it is.  All of it. The good, the bad, and especially the ugly.  And I want them to see how beautiful it is.  I want them to know it's ok to be vulnerable, to cry, to laugh, to talk about the scary stuff, to ask for help, and to try to figure out where we fit in this great big world.  I want to listen.  To understand.  To embrace.  To love. 

If all you get from these ramblings tonight is one thing, I want it to be this...you are loved.  More than you can ever imagine.  And you matter.  No one else can play your part (www.twloha.com).  Don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise.  Love alone is worth the fight.

"And we find what we're made of, through the open door, is it fear you're afraid of, what are you waiting for? Love alone is worth the fight..."  Switchfoot