FAITH FORWARD FRIDAY: LIVE YOUR STORY

We all have our stories filled with drama, heartache, adversity, births, deaths, loss, gains and love. We all have friends who have the same stories and often they are closely linked with our own. Intertwined and interwoven. I share my pain of woe and dread they share theirs. I invite them to celebrate my joys and they invite me back. We are all connected like a patch quilt...like family.

I cannot live their story. They cannot live mine. I have to live my own story. It is easy to let the voice of dearest friends and loved ones whisper in my ear as to what to do. Sometimes their whispers are louder than what's in my heart and mind. We are so connected to each other that when I say aaahhh, they say chooo. But at some point you have to be the ultimate decider of the course of your life. You have to be the one that says this is what I want, this is what I am doing and this is how its going to be. THAT'S IT!

Part of living your own story is letting others live theirs. Giving them the same room for discernment, reflection and meditative thought. We cannot impress our will onto others. We have to respect someone else' process of discernment even if it makes no sense to us, or even if we feel it will cause that person more pain in the end. We must live our own story.

Love hopes all things, abides all things. Love does not say live for another. We each have our own stories. Live your story.