Where The Rubber Meets The Road

We are all capable of so much more than we think we are. 

There are times we want to throw up our hands and admit defeat. 

But a little vein of purple defiance springs up and tells us that we can stretch whatever we have, whatever we are, just a little bit farther. 

We aren't going to break. We aren't made of glass.

Mothers lift monstrously heavy cars off their offspring in moments of sheer panic with jolts of adrenaline. Before they did it, they'd have said they couldn't. 

But they didn't give it a thought because there simply wasn't a choice. 

Sometimes life is just that simple.

At the end of the year, I tend to get a bit philosophical. 

I like to think back on what I learned the past year, what I came to understand about myself.

We don't get do-overs. Life is lived minute by minute. Every second we hesitate is another second we agonize over a decision.

And really, the right thing is the thing you end up doing. 

If you don't take a road, then you don't know where that other path might have taken you. 

You can't be in two places at one time.

So that other road, the one not taken, is irrelevant.

Do you ever wonder what price is yours to pay? 

I think if I learned one important little nugget of fine-spun gold knowledge this past year, it is that I don't have to carry every load. Every bit of baggage that I've acquired in my life's journey.

That baggage weighs you down, wears you out. 

So I'm going to tell it to you straight. 

Put it down. 

Place it at the side of the road. Hide it in the recycling bin. Cover it with a tarp.

Set it down right now before you even have time to think about it. There's no need to keep carrying it. It doesn't do anyone any good.

Least of all, you.

I've learned that peace is priceless. And sometimes that's what the choices in life come down to. 

So make it easy on yourself. 

You can have it one of two ways. 

Do you want peace in your life? 

Then do away with whatever is standing in your way. In front of peace. 

Take your fork and stand over the trash and scoop it right off your plate into the bin. 

Let it go.

Take the suffering or guilt or pain or whatever it is and just subtract it from your life's equation. Throw it into the wind and watch the forces of nature lift it up into the sky. 

Out of sight. Gone for good. No turning back.

The choice is yours to make.

Take that little girl by the hand, the one you used to be. Tell her everything is going to be all right. 

Give her hand a little squeeze for courage. 

Protecting her is your biggest and most important job in life. 

Because no one can take care of the child in you better than you can.

Last but not least: Be tender with her always.
 

This is where the rubber meets the road.

This is what truly counts.

This is for you.