The View From an Open Window

          For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Jeremiah 29:11

          All my life my mom has told me that everything happens for a reason.  No matter how small, each and every thing serves a purpose.  No door ever closes without a window opening up.  Although I forget this at times, I always come back to it in the end, and when I remember…that’s when I start to feel the breeze from an open window only a little further down the road. 

            I think that’s the way life should always be lived, with the constant belief that in every heartbreak, in every setback there lays an opportunity.  A chance to be better than you were before.  Sitting here on my front porch swing, writing this post I honestly cannot think of one event in my life that didn’t make me better than I was before.  In the moments of life when you are caught up in the emotions, it’s sometimes hard to get perspective, but morning always comes and there is literally new light shed on everything.  In the disappointment of a lost job there is the potential for a new dream.  In the grief of a lost loved one, there is a reminder of a shoulder to cry and arms to hold you.  In the numbness of a relationship gone wrong, there is the certainty that someone better waits for you.  That’s the way life was meant to be lived: with the constant knowledge that every moment, every person has a purpose, no matter how big or small.  We may not know it at the time, but looking back, oh, how it all comes together. And, oh, how beautiful that picture is when you can look back and know that all those twists and turns, all those doors slammed in your face led you to right here…cool breeze on your face and a smile in your heart.