I have been reading a series of books that my Mom sent me. It is The Christmas Shoes series by Donna Vanliere. The first of four books was the original The Christmas Shoes. You may have heard the song, based on the book, at Christmas time that has to do with a little boy that wants to buy his mom some special shoes for Christmas because she will be meeting Jesus soon (i.e., because she has cancer and dies on Christmas). I got just over half way through the book before I just bawled my eyes out. It’s a beautiful story, so if you get a chance you should get the set and read it.
The books are short little nuggets that can be read in one, maybe two evenings. I am currently on the second book The Christmas Blessing, because March is the best time to read Christmas stories. I read the following passage last night and just thought I would share it with you. I find it to be so true and it really touched me.
“…I hope you don’t go straight to the top of the mountain, Nathan. I hope you go through the valley first so that you’ll learn how to love and feel and understand. And when life wounds you, I hope it’s because you loved people, not because you mistreated them.”
People talk about a defining moment in life. I’ve come to realize that there is no one defining moment, but instead a series of events and circumstances that define who we are. They change us little by little, leading us to something bigger or unexpected or maybe to a closed door, and that is when we experience a grand moment of realization that drives us closer to our destiny.
Today, I know that each of us is destined for something, a purpose that often seems muddy or vague at best. We want nothing more than to know what our purpose is, to know that we haven’t just been plopped down to fumble our way through to the end, but that there’s a reason for our being here. We may not discover that purpose in the way that we’d want, as time in the valley will be longer and darker than we imagined, be if we are patient or still long enough, we will catch it in fleeting glimpses. We will see tiny sparks of revelation that push us closer and closer to our destiny. There will be pain; sometimes more than we bargained for, but as my mother promised so many years ago, in the end there will be joy.
God knows that I have had plenty of trials in my life and I definitely feel like I am still in the valley, climbing my way up to the top of the mountain. But, I can honestly say that I have enjoyed the adventure overall.
I have a great traveling companion for my journey. He likes to run ahead of me and dig big holes, then cover them with branches and leaves and laugh his little ass off when I fall into them, but he always helps me back out. I love the sound a rock makes when I pop into the back of his head when he isn’t looking, but I am the first one there with the Neosporin and Band-Aids. He gives me piggy back rides across the streams and I find berries for us to eat.
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