“Maybe its like you said before, all of us being cracked open. Like each of us starts out as a watertight vessel. And then things happen - these people leave us, or don’t love us, or don’t get us, or we don’t get them, and we lose and fail and hurt one another. And the vessel starts to crack in places. And I mean, yeah once the vessel cracks open, the end becomes inevitable. Once it starts to rain inside the Osprey, it will never be remodeled. But there is all this time between when the cracks start to open up and when we finally fall apart. And its only that time that we see one another, because we see out of ourselves through our cracks and into others through theirs. When did we see each other face to face? Not until you saw into my cracks and I saw into yours. Before that we were just looking at ideas of each other, like looking at your window shade, but never seeing inside. But once the vessel cracks, the light can get in. The light can get out.”
I like that quote so much. It's interesting, unique, and amazingly true. How many times are we hurt by others because they don't do or say what we wanted or expected of them? Was it really a fault in them or maybe were hurt because of our perception of what we thought they were? Sometimes we forget that people aren't perfect. We get so caught up in finding this standard in a person when in reality that standard looks different for everyone. Maybe if we learned to accept people for who they are, not our ideas of what they should be, we would have realistic expectations and not be disappointed so frequently.
I've been disappointed, hurt, scarred, and cracked. I always thought that made me worth less than if I had never been hurt, but in reality it is quite the opposite. Sometimes those pains, hurt, and tears lead you to a new place in life. A place where you learn, grow, and share with others. A place where you are finally cracked enough to let others see you for who you really are... And you're okay with it. When we can learn to embrace our fragile, cracked, and scarred hearts then maybe we could learn to embrace others and this life.
Paper people.
“Here's what's not beautiful about it: from here, you can't see the rust or the cracked paint or whatever, but you can tell what the place really is. You can see how fake it all is. It's not even hard enough to be made out of plastic. It's a paper town. I mean, look at it, Q: look at all those culs-de-sac, those streets that turn in on themselves, all the houses that were built to fall apart. All those paper people living in their paper houses, burning the future to stay warm. All the paper kids drinking beer some bum bought for them at the paper convenience store. Everyone demented with the mania of owning things. All the things paper-thin and paper-frail. And all the people, too. I've lived here for eighteen years and I have never once in my life come across anyone who cares about anything that matters.”
Paper people caring about paper things, all fleeting and fading away. Reading this quote reminded of the book of Ecclesiastes. The writer, Solomon, declared that everything in life is meaningless, vain, and futile. Isn't it though? What in this life is worth what we put into it? Nothing except our Heavenly Father and faith. I'm not saying we should all do nothing and be bums, but we need to examine our motives and be sure they are worthwhile. Heaven is worthwhile.
I know I spend too much time on meaningless things in this life; I want to change that. I want to spend more time loving my family and friends, living for my God, and sharing His amazing gift with others.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal... For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
No comments:
Post a Comment