Tapestry

For almost a decade, I lived with the bare minimum. More specifically, everything I needed to live fit into a box. It was quite the humbling experience actually. I found out that for most of my life, I was under this false impression that I needed a lot or that it was a necessity that I had the best of everything. I learned very quickly that I was quite mistaken. I also learned that this idea that I needed more in my life caused me to pay less attention to what I already had.

I remember wishing upon stars and throwing pennies into ponds as a child, believing that my dreams, no matter how big, were going to come true. This was encouraged by countless people for many years. The tradition of wishing continued with birthday candles, wishbones from the Thanksgiving turkey, and through the themes of many Walt Disney fairy tales. I just knew that I was going to win a billion dollars, live in a castle with glass slippers and of course, marry a prince. Would you believe none of that has come true? In fact, I live in my cousin’s condo, my favorite pair of shoes is not made of glass (in which I got from a thrift store NOT a fairy godmother), I live check to check, and have yet to even meet an actual prince.

However, even though none of these childhood dreams and wishes has become reality, I am, to simply put it …happy.

I have always believed in looking at the big picture. I saw where I wanted to be, what I thought I deserved, and that is where my focus was. Even when I hit rock bottom, I still kept my eyes on that light at the end of the tunnel. This is actually what most life coaches, motivational speakers, and honestly counselors of any magnitude encourage as well. This is AWESOME advice!! What I have discovered though, and it is something that was never mentioned to me before, is that I also need to enjoy the process of reaching my destination.

So many times, we invest more time and energy on planning on how to get to the big picture that we miss all of the amazing details we have in front of us in the now. Not to mention that we tend to gravitate to the easy way of reaching that destination, which after learning the hard way, is not always the best route. We are so busy dreaming and wishing for the greater things in life that we are not seeing all of the incredible blessings we already have even in our darkest of times.

Think of a tapestry. Here’s this heavy cloth, a piece of wall art, with different pictures and designs formed by weaving different colored threads…. It’s not the cloth in its entirety that makes it beautiful; it is the small details that each thread makes. However, it takes time, patience and a lot of hard work to complete this type of art.

Now look at your life. Not where you want to be, but where you are now. Do you see the intricate details of your past? How it has shaped you to where you are now? Do you see the beauty in the each stich as each part is woven together?

Each event in our lives, good and bad, plays a beautiful part in what will be the tapestry of our life. And just like with the wall hanging, it will take time, patience, and hard work to ultimately see the completed picture.

Do not get me wrong…I still dream. I even still make wishes! I am however more observing of what it is I am truly dreaming of. Like I said earlier, as a child, I dreamt of a castle…now I want a home. I wanted a fairy tale wedding, now I want a marriage. I wished for glass slippers, now I am grateful for any shoe that has good arch support!

I am not in a rush anymore to get to my destination; I am instead enjoying every single step it takes to get there. I am even okay if I stumble a few times, after all, I believe it will just add a little more definition and uniqueness to this masterpiece in the making.

Today, I am incredibly grateful for that little box I lived out of for almost a decade. It taught me value and it taught me appreciation for all the things I took for granted. It also taught me that it wasn’t the big, newest and best of everything I was wanting all those years. In the end, none of that was truly ever important to begin with. The “stuff” that I found I was longing for? Well, it was nothing you could ever put a price on and something that the largest box in the world could ever hold…forgiveness, freedom, and family. With those three elements always in my life, no matter how long or how hard I may struggle, the journey through this tapestry of my life will be absolutely incredible when the picture is finally completed.