Today's Gift for Families - May 2014

[MajestyJo]

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

You are reading from the book Today's Gift

Who will tell whether one happy moment of love or the joy of breathing or walking on a bright morning and smelling the fresh air, is not worth all the suffering and effort which life implies. . . .
—Erich Fromm

A robin comes alive by breaking out of its shell. The small bird struggles to break out of the safety of the blue egg. Once out, it struggles to grow, slowly learning how to eat, walk, and fly.

We, too, struggle as we grow. There is brokenness in all of our lives - broken hearts and broken dreams. Yet these experiences open our way to a world of growing. We find comfort in the presence of a Power greater than ourselves in the same way a baby bird finds warmth near the body of its mother. We, too, can grow stronger every day, learning to take in nourishment and trying out our new wings.

What struggles have made me as strong as I am today?

For me it has been learning to live with five different types of arthritis, and not abuse my medication, and not go back into narcotics that would make the pain go away. Several doctors over the years, have told me that in order to get rid of my tremon disorder in my left hand was to pick up a glass of alcohol. Now it is in both hands, using is not an option. As I was told in treatment, the body manufactures the pain to tell you that you need more.