"The appearance of things changes according to our emotions, and thus we see the magic and beauty in them, while in reality, the magic and beauty are really in ourselves".
I loved this quote when I found it. It reminded me that we are all responsible for finding the magic and beauty that is around us. We can't wait for anyone else to make us happy. That is our own responsibility. We have to find the magic and beauty inside of ourselves in order to appreciate it in those around us.
We are currently dealing with a possibly long and difficult illness in our family. It has been a real struggle over the past year to try and keep a positive attitude and to hope always for the best. We have struggled to make choices that were in the best interest of the person involved. These choices have included trying to do this without a lot of medical intervention.
Nevertheless, things have gotten a little more difficult than we planned, and we decided to change tracks and try some medication to see if it would help. It has not been an easy decision. Medication has risks associated with it and also side effects that are not easy to bear.
Probably, if you saw our family, you would not realize what is wrong. You would probably not even realize who it was that had the problems. But the trial is still there, hiding somewhere under the surface. Some days are easier than others. Some days are highly visible, and some days are less obvious to the eye, but all days bring their own kind of hurt and pain.
One of the speakers at Time Out For Women last year, spoke about finding out that her son had a serious illness. Her name is Amanda Dickson. She talked about the day when she found out her son had this disease. She took him from the doctor's office and went out into her car and cried. She cried for all the "might have been's". Then she got out of her car and opened the back door to buckle him into his car seat. He happily smiled up at her and as she looked at him she thought to herself,
"This is the worst thing that could happen! This is what I was so afraid of? This boy is the same boy I loved before the doctor told us something was wrong. The same boy I loved when I did not know what was wrong! None of that has changed. He has not changed. I still love him and he is the same boy he was five minutes ago".Those words touched my heart in a powerful way. At that time, we had only been dealing with my child's illness for a few months. It reminded me that love is the thing that was and is most important of all. That statement bore witness to me of it's truth. My own beautiful, wonderful and amazing daughter, is still and always will be, the same as she was before her illness.
Each one of our children are precious and amazing. We don't know why they have the trials that they have, we don't know why we can't "fix" them or make them accepted by those around them. We only know that it is our job to help them learn who to lean on. To help them be just a little bit better in the face of their trials. To help them learn that they are loved.
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