The Beauty in the Middle

From a conversation we had last night:

I have a love for sunsets and sunrises, though I see the former much more than the latter. The point it, I love to watch the sunset because it constantly changes and it is never the same. Sometimes it is bursting with red and oranges, other times it is muted and obscured by the sun. The sunsets and the sunrises mark the transitions, it the turning of day to night and night to day. It is easy to miss though, as life gets busy and times slips away. One minute I can look out my window and see blue skies with the sun high in the sky. Minutes later, or so it seems, the street lights are on and the sky in dark, not just dim, but dark- middle of the night dark.

And if we miss what happens in between, we miss a lot of the beauty.

Its the same way with life... you can see the beginning and the end but you can't check out for the middle. Sometimes I wish I could check out, not have to deal with the details and the messes that are in the middle because sometimes the middle is not always pretty. Sometimes I wish I didn't struggle or doubt, feel insecure or unvalued. Sometimes I wish the tears never happened or emotions weren't all over the board. But if those wishes were to come true, I would miss a lot of the lessons, a lot of the community, and a lot of the beauty that has come from the mess.

So often it is easy to go from day to night, from light to dark, without taking the time to see the beauty in the middle, in the details. Don't forget the sunset. Take the time to see the middle, to see the details, to see the beauty even in the pain or the struggles.

Peace.