Wilderness

The one thing I'm learning in this journey, is that sometimes we have to be taken out of our comfort zones to appreciate the fullness of our own lives. We have so much, even when we struggle to make ends meet, there is an abundance that we too often over look. The wilderness forces us into a place of deep focus and appreciation. The friends on this blog with me are a prime example. We've been friends for years- yet the truest expression of that friendship was not seen until one of us was dealt a whammie! Not just any whammie, but one that struck at the core of who that person had always seen themselves. It was a difficult time, yet the richness of the stories, the closeness, the vulnerability was the genesis of this blog. A few years later, yours truly was plucked from her own personal comfort zone and dealt a set of circumstances that completely knocked me for a loop: End of marriage, end of thinking my children were safe and healthy (my son has leukemia and residual effects of a chemo induced stroke), the end of so many things. The beginning of so much more! Then there's the last in our trio. She too was plunked into the wilderness setting. It's not a new story, but painful to all of us who experience it's like or who watch a love one suffer through the disillusionment of a divorce.

So why do we call ourselves sheep? Because God calls us that, lovingly. And we need each other. In the good times we tend to forget that. In the bad, it's our flock who keep us sane.

Blind? Can any of us really see? As my story unfolds, you'll see that what I saw in the beginning of the mess, isn't and wasn't the whole truth. For now we see in part, as through a mirror darkly. Sometimes we need our friends to help remind us of that truth.- Sheep M 12/9/08