“We may be products of our past, but we are not prisoners.”
Rick Warren.

My thought for the day: We are not defined by the sum total of our missteps in this life. We ALL fall.

Some of us may have fallen repeatedly, causing pain, confusion, and fear in our lives and the lives of others, particularly those closest to us. We can choose to clothe ourselves in those wounds, making sure we feel the sting each day to remind of us of our guilt and shame, or perhaps we let others do that for us; subtly or straightforwardly.

OR

We can choose to dress and bandage our wounds, so that for the most part, we don’t feel the daily sting. The pain is covered up nicely with the fabric of our lives. The world we create, sustain and soak in is like a soothing balm. Until we stumble again, and for a brief moment the bandage is ripped off.  This causes just enough pain, confusion and noise in our heads that we desire to cauterize the wound and stop the pain once and for all.  Like a skinned knee which grazes the back of our trousers, each day the scab pulls less and less, until it we simply don’t feel it anymore. Until the next fall.

OR

We can choose to be free. We can choose to believe that our wounds and the wounds we may have inflicted on others are not medals we wear. We can choose to look in the eyes of those we hurt, betrayed, or disappointed and, most importantly, into our OWN mirrors and eyes with genuine self-love and self-acceptance; asking not just for forgiveness, but for release.

Release from the civil war in our heads, the conflicting thoughts, the race against time and the dance of disparity. We are not defined by our failures OR our successes. We are not designed to live a life of chaos in our minds, hearts and spirits as a result of being in either one camp or the other!

We are designed to live in peace, acceptance, love and truth. Only we can decide when we have had enough of the internal struggle. We overcome with love and awareness. We release ourselves by understanding that in the natural, we will fall. In the Spirit, we find Mercy and Grace. We are works in progress, and we become our own worst enemies when we stay trapped in our guilt, shame and self perpetuating mental tug of war.

Face yourself and others with the tenderness, gentleness and love that you would a newborn baby.  You are so much greater than the sum total of your mistakes.

Be encouraged.