Two Episodes, One Perspective

“There are moments when troubles enter our lives and we can do nothing to avoid them.  But they are there for a reason.  Only when we have overcome them will we understand why they were there.”

     –     Paulo Coelho, author

There are times when it seems like it can’t get any better.  But of course, it can.  Euphoria is, by and large, there for a reason.  It’s to remind us that we just don’t get it.  The highest highs are usually just a blip on the radar, a moment in time.  A small smattering of perspective on a much larger canvas spanning a much broader frame.

There are times when it seems like it can’t get any worse.  But of course, it can.  Despair is, by and large, there for a reason.  It’s to remind us that we just don’t get it.  The lowest lows are usually just a blip on the radar, a moment in time.  A small smattering of perspective on a much larger canvas spanning a much broader frame.

The highest highs seem to go by like shooting stars.  The lowest lows seem to drag on like winter in the Great Lakes — too long, too cold, too gray.  But they are both simply brief stop-offs along the route our lives are set upon.

Today, I spent forty-five minutes talking to someone who thought they were experiencing the lowest of lows.  Less than five minutes later, I was talking to someone who really was.

For the former, I wish I could share with them the story of the latter — so that they might know that their “blip,” their moment in time, was one that their counterpart would sign up for.  Right.  Now.  As for the former, I am sure that neither one of us thinks the other one “gets it,” and we’re both probably right.

For the latter, I hope and pray will all my might, that they might soon look back and see today as a brief stop-off along a route through many more fields and across many more mountains, toward and through many more sunrises and sunsets.  I hope and pray with all my might that this “blip” might be just that – a moment in time, that will provide treasured perspective.

Regardless of how any of us come out of the other side of these conversations, we are here, now, for a reason, and my prayer is that we might — sooner than later — understand why the troubles and the conversations they led us into were there.