Our dining room window shattered this morning...
A balloon popping in the cavernous room? No
A portrait falling off the wall? No
A gunshot? No
Our lawn service was cutting the back yard, when the mower ate and hurled a rock from under its whirling girth and launched it right into our picture window.
The point of entry penetrated only the exterior of the double-paned, tempered glass window. The sound was unnerving though.
Of course, it could have been worse. It can always be worse.
Staring at the new snowflake prisms and cracks of our once unmarred pane, I felt light-heartedly cynical--in the vein of this being par-for-the-course for such a year as this.
Across the house you could hear the window crackling, calling as though a spider announcing the debut of its web. The slivers, snaked and slid, cracked and cruised until the whole picture became more than its original totality as a lone window doing its job.
My mind turned from the reality to the significance of analogy.
Each tiny slice and fork in the road, a representative of hundreds of thousands, millions who have truly been shattered and are deeply suffering isolation, loneliness, death, loss—
a much larger break, a more severe, severed human pain, yet symbolic here in this
broken window pane...and so it is for 2020. We are beyond surprises.
Being broken is part of living.
Life is a mosaic. Its picture has never been clear.
However, we can put the pieces back together in a new arrangement. We can create a beautiful, more meaningful picture that didn’t exist before 2020 hurled itself shockingly into our lives. BANG. 2020 shattered the glass houses.
There are is more "unexpected". We pick up the pieces, the shards and slivers. Such work requires focus. It will be hard not to bleed when picking up the sharp, broken pieces.
Some of us will not have the energy or the room to collect any more... some wounds are too, too deep. The body, mind and spirit are weak.
For those of us who have experienced renewed energy and ability, we can pick up our share and then some... maybe not every day, but some days. Pain looks different on every one. Facades are popular.
However, it is the diversity of humankind, the intent and intentional weavers who dare to thread their needles with slivers of glass-- intent on continuing the unknown pattern and path to the beautiful tapestry of life.
Be kind. Do good. Be thankful.
Be the light that someone else needs.
Shine through the brokenness.
Shine because of the brokenness.
Join the tribe of goodness and strength.
Pick up your needle and thread.
The sewing has just begun.
The picture is waiting.
It's Laura Lyn
Laura Lyn Donahue
November 28, 2020