Thursday, February 1, 2018

Every Last Drop: A Reflection by Emily Rutledge

I felt a deep connection to the water droplets that clung to the branches surrounding my home on Monday morning.  The bus stop drop off had been a disaster, I had a full day of emails and planning ahead of me, and I am currently at a moment in time when it feels like whenever one fire is put out anther is lit.  And it's cold.  And for me being cold makes everything worse.

As I walked past branch upon branch freckled with these gorgeous and fragile droplets I was reminded of all of you, of all of us.  

At a young age I remember seeing an apartment building and having the paradigm shifting realization that each person in that large building was living a life of their own where they were the center of everything.  The way my life felt huge to me was the same way all of those people's lives felt huge to them.  I describe it as 'our own little worlds'.  This simple and universal truth still rattles me sometimes.  There are approximately 7.5 BILLION living each day on this planet experiencing their life; beautiful, horrible, exciting, beginning, ending, expecting, struggling, succeeding, lives.  I often find myself wondering if anyone else feels as broken, tired, happy, loved, or confused as I do... and I am able to answer my own question:  YES.  We are each holding on to something, clinging to hope- or the future- or the past- or a new way- or another choice- or the gift of a single moment.  

That's a lot of living happening all around us.  That's a whole lot of hanging on. Ministry has gifted me with the privilege of being present for others' most wonderful and most painful moments.  It's let me into so many 'little worlds' and revealed to me one universal truth... every single person is doing a hard thing.  We have this horribly human characteristic of wanting to rank our hard.  To make it bigger or smaller or dismiss it or hold it higher than others. The reality is; hard is hard is hard.  Hanging on is hanging on is hanging on. And thankfully; God is God is God.  There is enough love and hope and redemption for every 'little world', every struggle, every one of us.

Praying this this week your little world is graced with the beauty that lies in the hanging on.

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