When we are in the throes of despair, we can easily be tempted to believe that there is nothing good or beautiful or sweet enough to sustain us.
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Desperation.
We all find ourselves there at one time or another, despite our best efforts and most careful planning.
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I wanted to remind you of the one thread that might be worth on hanging by.
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It’s that cold, lightless place where time and circumstance and our own minds conspire to overwhelm us; almost squeezing out the last bit of hope we have left and leaving us wondering whether or not we can go another step further.
I sense you might be there right now and I wanted to give you something: reason to keep going.
I wanted to remind you of the one thread that might be worth on hanging by.
When we are in the throes of despair, we can easily be tempted to believe that there is nothing good or beautiful or sweet enough to sustain us. When so much around us seems wrong or painful or senseless, that can become all that we are able to see or foresee.
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It may be God or the face of your child or the song you never tire of hearing or the smell of basil catching the breeze through the kitchen window.
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But the truth is, even in our most desperate moments when grief seems to be winning, when sorrow is its greatest, there is a steady resistance that stands in opposition saying, “Don’t forget me. I’m still here. I haven’t left you and I am worth leaning into.”
What is it for you?
It may be God or the face of your child or the song you never tire of hearing or the smell of basil catching the breeze through the kitchen window. It may be the embrace of someone you adore or the tangerine filling the evening sky or the wrinkles at the corner of your lover’s eyes that you know better than anyone else.
I don’t know what it is for you—but you do.
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But there is more. There is something else. There is reason to believe and to be lifted and to keep going.
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And the truth is, there are a million things arguing for our joy in these very moments, but we may not be able to hear them above the din of our depression and our disappointment and our woundedness.
But we don’t need to hear them all. We only need to hear one.
That is the thread worth hanging by.
Because one solitary thing of beauty in this world has the power to keep us tethered to hope until we have more strength, until gratitude becomes our default setting, until we reach a clearing.
Yes, right now there is so much that we could dwell on that is so terrible, so disheartening, so very not right. That might be where you find yourself in these moments.
But there is more. There is something else. There is reason to believe and to be lifted and to keep going.
So look for it.
Listen for it.
Reach for it.
Friend, believe me: as difficult as these days are, as hopeless as you may feel, as broken as things in and around you might seem, there is always,always a thread worth hanging by.
May you find it, and may you be greatly encouraged.
Originally Published at JohnPavlovitz.com
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Photo: Pixabay
