We are strongly impacted by our environments. As you sit in the awareness of your shortcomings, be sure to feed your mind
with words and images of encouragement and hope. It is essential to
nurture ourselves. Find podcasts, talks, books, and people that convey encouragement. Put up signs that encourage you. Write on your mirror. I have two, one says “Blessed” and the other “Dream Big”. They are there to remind me to be grateful, and to take time to notice the many blessings I have in life – food, water, shelter, the ability to breathe, read, see, etc. The other reminds me that I am capable of doing big things, worthy of many blessings and that my dreams make a difference in my life. I’m giving myself encouragement and hope. Surround yourself with beauty. Buy beautiful versions of the things you need, from socks to blankets to jackets to plates to pictures for your walls…. Make your environment one that nourishes you. Little by little, add light and color, and images that make you smile. Or, you can choose hopelessness in the face of what you’ve done (or failed to do)… You can choose to beat yourself up, berate yourself, and tell yourself that you are a failure, no good, and will never amount to anything. You can surround yourself with voices and images that tear you down. It’s up to you… will you feed hope, growth, change and the baby steps forward in life or will you feed despair, and destruction, and move toward death, little by little?
Don’t walk through life alone. Let Christ be Your
guide, Your light, Your strength. Invite Him into the mess of your heart and your life. He will bring healing. Just as physical healing takes time and effort and sometimes, suffering through pain, so do spiritual healing and emotional healing. Don’t be afraid. Don’t give up because it hurts for a while.
Remember that after surgery to cut out a tumor, one must recover and that recovery involves pain. Sometimes we are tempted to give up because growth hurts, healing can bring pain. Don’t give up. Keep walking with Christ. Keep doing the hard, beautiful work of living. A caterpillar doesn’t look anything like the butterfly it will become. In the chrysalis, it looks dead, all wrapped up and hanging from a twig. “Nothing” seems to be happening… at least on the outside. Then the time comes and the creature struggles and wriggles and struggles to come out of the chrysalis, to come forth. There is no short cut. The transforming process, the hidden baby steps have to happen. And the struggle to come forth must also happen. At the proper time, once the work is done, only then is the butterfly revealed. Before that moment, the beauty is not yet evident, even though it exists!
Hope. Hopeless.
Keep up the good work, one baby step at a time!!!
With hope, so much is possible. No matter what you have done, where you have been, or what you have been through. No matter where you find yourself now. Hope is the key that unlocks possibilities and life. It’s never too late to start. It’s never too far to go. The time is now to take the next baby step toward growth, life, freedom and beauty. You are SO worth it!
Every moment is another opportunity to choose.
Choose HOPE!
Katherine O' Brien MA CCPS Katherine works with teens, helping them discover themselves, develop their wonderful skills and interests, identify possible careers and majors, select and apply to colleges and scholarships. Her college consultancy can be found online at www.CelticCollegeConsultants.com.
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