Turning Again Toward Home

Looking Back for a Moment, Then Turning Again Toward Home 

Days gone by were brought back to me today in the form of reconnecting emails and work conversations. The days brought back were wrapped around not so happy times back then for me and I would just assume to never revisit them again. But there they were today and it made me stop and think for a brief moment. Those days seem like lifetimes ago to me now.

I remember feelings of being stuck in situations that had no way out, or so I thought at the time. I had always wanted to be the little bird flying in the sky anywhere it wanted to go. But instead I was the little bird stuck in a cage only dreaming of singing under the bright blue sky and I held on to that hope. Rascal Flatts had a song back then called “I’m Movin’ On” and I would sing it like a theme song and it made me feel I would make it, I would get unstuck some day.

Thoughts also of why some people last as a part of our lives and others just don’t. Is it something we do, or don’t do, or say, or don’t say. Is it that we try to make it work until we know it won’t but we hang on too long anyway. Is it different interests are developed, or different ideals, or different goals, or different things that start to matter. Is it we just stop trying because relationships with people, no matter how great they are, are at times challenging and always require effort that we just don’t seem to want to put in on a daily basis.

I thought also of how truly mean people can be. The conversation I overheard at work today was the complete tearing apart of someone I had known for a long time who had developed what seemed to be some issues that hindered his job performance and he has since left the company. The gossipers found much humor in reminiscing about his shortcomings and it reminded me of kids in the school yard making fun of the new classmate with glasses. Only these mockers were not kids, but adults well into middle age. It made me sad and I was ashamed for them.

Today’s look back also made me think about people who overcome difficult circumstances and those who never seem to. Much has been made about race and economic background and all the other distinctions that have worked to divide us as a country and globally. Regardless, amid our challenging circumstances, do we choose to believe we have no way out or do we choose to keep fighting and make a better way the best we can. Do we look for others to do for us or do we try our hardest to first do things for ourselves. Does our character define us and that is why we keep fighting or is it a question of just not being able to get up again when we have been so beaten down.

Here’s what I know. I have gotten unstuck over the years from those situations back then and I am grateful that I have been more the little bird singing under the bright blue sky than the little bird in a cage. I think it’s good to look back once in a while to see how far you’ve come and how far you still need to go. Always hold on to the hope of better days because they are always within your reach. The past is the past for a reason, let it go, then turn again toward home, and reach for tomorrow.

For your listening pleasure, Rascal Flatts’, “I’m Movin’ On.” Click here.