Broken pieces can tell a beautiful story

Life has ups and downs. At times you look at people and you think all they have had in life is a plate of seven colored food and a healthy bank balance. It takes grace to meet life with a cheer regardless of what you have been through. Whenever I see someone successful, I always wonder what their story is, how many broken pieces were put together to make what we see as beautiful.

I do not worry much about what I am going to eat these days, but I do know what it is like to have a mango for lunch, tin fish on Christmas day and weetbix all day because there is nothing else to eat. I have learned to be content. It was a good feeling to be one of the top twenty performing learners in the province in my Matric year, but I also know what it is like to face academic exclusion at UCT, appeal, negotiate with the dean , do an extra year of your degree and still manage to complete your engineering degree. I learned to fight.

It is great to be a mom of beautiful twin girls who have brought so much joy and sleepless nights into my life,  but I also know what it is like to hold a dead baby after hours of labour. So the saying that goes , ” a mother endures labour pains because she knows at the end she will hold her baby as a reward” has a whole new  meaning for me. I have learned that somethings don’t have answers.

It is a good feeling to see a credit score that is green and have creditors knocking on your door because they WANT to give you credit, but I also know what it is like to be in the red, have your car taken from you by the bank  (then returned- miracle) and have creditors look the other way when you need credit. I have learned to build. I know what it is like to have multiple job offers, and what it is like to have no job and to dread Fridays because it means you won’t get potential calls for interviews over the weekend. I have learned to persevere.

The list goes on and on and it does for you too. Life is made up of a mixture of smiles and tears. Will all of it make a beautiful picture? Pain is inevitable, but misery is a choice. How do you want to view all of it? He promised us that all things work together for our good. Through it all, through it all, I have learned to trust Jesus and I have learned to depend upon His Word.