Have you
ever tried to construct
a
complicated gift – a child’s toy
that
comes in a box,
broken
down into dozens
of
different pieces;
a piece
of furniture
that
comes the same way;
or some
other device
or gadget
that arrives
labeled
“assembly required”?
Sometimes
the directions
aren’t
quite clear, and seem
as if
they have been translated
from
another language,
either by
a woefully inadequate
online
tool or someone
whose
bilinguality has been validated
by little
more than the purchase
of
Rosetta Stone discs.
Other
times, there seem to be
pieces broken
in transit,
or altogether
missing,
making it
nearly impossible
to
construct anything
that
resembles the original
product’s
description and function.
Have you
ever stopped to consider
how your
life could be
described
in this same way?
The
harder we try to glue,
bolt, and
otherwise connect
the
fragmented pieces of our lives,
forcing
them to function like
and
resemble a picture
we were
shown in the past
or someone
else imagined for our future,
the more
frustrated, hopeless,
and dysfunctional
we become.
What
would happen if we freed
ourselves
and our expectations
from instructions
and components
demanding
perfect function and understanding,
focusing
instead, on reconstructing
our
broken pieces into vessels capable
of
holding those around us
in the
present moment
beneath
grace’s flow?
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| Photo by Todd Jenkins |
© 2014 Todd Jenkins
