Dross

Sometimes, I'm realizing, you just have to be pushed to realize your correct direction. I've been watching people a lot lately (not that there's ever been much of a time where this wasn't a common occurrence), and I've been thinking about this. I think trials are what make us who we really are.

There's a song that we use to sing all the time at church, of course it's name escapes me at the moment, but it went something like this, "Start a fire in me/Let the flames run free/Burn away the dross/Holy fire of God." This song went on for an eternity, but it did capture my imagination. Sometimes we are truly given a trial by fire. You experience a major tear in a relationship, you heart is broken, you or someone you love becomes seriously ill or injured, someone you love dies, people decide to turn there lives completely out of moral reality...

Sometimes life pushes us to our very edge. It's in these times of loneliness, brokenness, solitude, that we realize who and what we really are. When we're stripped bare of all our extras, of all the things we thought we needed, all of what we believe we were, only to realize that what's left behind after tragedy is new growth...

We a stronger. We, the broken, are the courageous ones if only we are willing to stand back up.

A friend of mine has been alone for years. He's a great, loving, God-fearing guy with a ridiculous sense of humor, but he's been alone. Earlier this year, he told me that he'd come to terms with the fact that he'd probably be alone for the rest of his life. He'd decided that even if he never found the girl of his dreams, that was okay, because he finally knew who he was. And that's when I started to see knew growth. He'd been stripped of his dreams, and it wasn't that he'd lost hope, he'd gained perspective and wisdom that I still can't comprehend. His patience and joy in the midst of frustrating times are truly inspiring. Even though he'd been alone for so long...there is a happy ending, because, he's recently fallen in love. He's found himself a wonderful girl, and I genuinely hope that this is the one.

Life has a funny was of coming back around. I guess the best plan is to keep living each moment for the best, and in the end...it works out.