What do you do when you have a burning story to tell, a story that is your own, but a story that also includes someone else who is not ready for their story to be told?
This is where I am at. I am a story teller. It is how I process events. It is how I detox. It is how I respirate. I breath out the story and the universe receives the story and breathes it back into me, showing me what it all means.
Is there a story about myself that I have not shared? There have been stories I have delayed sharing. So I respect the other person’s desire not to tell yet.
But words are dancing on my fingertips. Their meaning drips color like oil paint on my world. Like an artist I long to commit them to canvas and see what this tale looks like in three dimensional glory.
Holding it all in brings an emotional indigestion.
It’s a good story.
It’s got one hell of a beginning – right in the middle of the action, just like they teach you in novel writing school. It’s got a cast of characters who all have a journey to undertake and massive challenges to overcome before they can arrive at a new destination.
Challenges accepted.
Actually, a lot of the time it feels like challenges are foisted upon us, doesn’t it? I would like to be able to consider and decide for myself, thank you. But even when a challenge is forced on me, I still get a bonus, optional challenge to go along with it – the challenge of my response to the challenge.
Anyway, this story I have to tell. The part about me? I was thrust into a big mess that wasn’t of my own making (this time). I was crushed, broken, humbled, calmed, awed, and inspired, and then I was all those things all over again, and again. It’s been a difficult journey. It is teaching me to trust that things happen the way they need to happen, and that we are being watched over and cared for even in the midst of things that only happened because of someone, somewhere, who made a poor choice.
I’ve heard it said that life is a beautiful tapestry. Here on this planet we can only see the underside of that tapestry – the “wrong side” – threads of all colors going in every direction in a tangled and knotted mess. It’s hopeless. Yet, one day we will have a new perspective. We will be on the other side of the tapestry – the “right side” – and how gorgeous will that be?
But I have a different take on the “wrong side” – it’s not really wrong at all. While I am staring at this cacophony of jumbled threads, I have the comfort of knowing that everything about it is right. Every crazy thread has a purpose. It may have been laid down randomly, but the tapestry-maker is a genius in his artistry. He uses each thread, imbuing it with a essential part to play in the finished masterpiece that we will all one day enjoy.
“Bring me all the threads”
If things are happening to you that you didn’t choose, if you’re carrying a thread that looks like a hot mess, take heart, because this is not the end of the story. There’s another side you can’t see yet, but when you do, you’re going to love it. Bring your thread to the tapestry maker. He knows exactly what to do with it.
Photo by Steve Jurvetson – Tapestry “Needling Whisper” by Kyungah Ham
