Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas
To persevere, trusting in what hopes he has, is courage in a man. Euripides
We are at the beginning the middle or maybe getting toward the end of a journey. We can feel like we can’t go on, the road is too hard, the reward is too little, or something has changed along the way. If this is a shared journey we may be letting someone else down.
How many people are looking at each other across the table one thinking they need to continue to press on and the other thinking they need to close the business, end the marriage, or make some other drastic change they don’t agree on? It is hard to continue through life and finish what we start as individuals, we start a course of study we later learn we hate, we start a fitness program we have a hard time fitting into our schedule, or we get part way through something and wonder if it’s worth it.
In life, we need to know when to hold em, when to fold em, and when to quit. In real life, it isn’t always easy to know. We are also told it is always darkest before dawn. We’ve been holding on for so long, in a job, a business, a marriage and it wouldn’t take much to quit, or maybe we would like to continue but our partner is done. Our dream may end because of someone else’s decision. How are we to handle this?
In a partnership, it’s over when one of us says it’s over. That is the inherent weakness in partnerships, but what two people or a group of people can accomplish often can’t be accomplished on our own. In a partnership, we are not only counting on ourselves to have fortitude and forbearance but on our partner as well. How do we deal with the loss, with the betrayal in failing to live up to until death do us part?
Even if our own partnership seems strong, watching another one disintegrate can be hard on our relationship. We look at what is going on in another relationship and wonder about ours. Especially when someone we respected and thought we knew does something that seems out of character, this can shake us to our core. If we didn’t know them as well as we thought we did, do we know ourselves as well as we think we do, or our partner?
Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go, they merely determine where you start. Nido Qubein
Navigating life isn’t always easy but it gets especially perilous when foundations we’ve built our life on that we thought were rock solid are shaken. Thinking anything in life is rock solid may be our downfall. We hear about people falling from grace all the time. Companies we’ve known all our lives go out of business. Couples we’ve looked up to get divorced.
What do we hold onto when nothing about us seems solid? This is the time for faith in something bigger than ourselves. It isn’t always easy to find faith in our time of need. But when I read about those who have overcome the truly great challenges in life faith often plays a role. When we read their stories often they could only take life one step at a time and with gratitude that they were still on their journey, and faith that they would get through it, they came out the other side stronger.
We may think I have faith and gratitude, but how do I help my partner have it? This is tough, we have to let people have their own journey, and they might make mistakes that affect us, but that too is part of the journey. We can’t control others no matter how much we want to, or how much better we think we could make their life if they would just listen to us and do what we suggest.
Haven’t we had times in our lives when we could have saved ourselves a lot of pain if we listened to those wiser than ourselves, but we wouldn’t have learned what we learned? We don’t live our lives singularly, we affect others on our journey, and they affect us on ours. Sometimes we are going hand in hand toward the same goal, sometimes we are not, but we have to be able to deal with what comes and realize we won’t always do the right thing, or make the right decision, and nor will others. Life can be a wild ride, we need to fasten our seatbelts, and sometimes all we can do is hope we have the strength to continue in truth, dignity, gratitude, and faith.
If a bend is coming up the road how will we navigate it?
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. Winston Churchill
A bend in the road is not the end of the road… unless you fail to make the turn. Helen Keller
Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other. Walter Elliot
Thank you for reading this post. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you will come back and read some more. Have a blessed day, filled with gratitude, joy, and love.
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