Beautiful and Daunting Contradictions
Our lives are beautiful and daunting contradictions. Whatever paths we travel on, we are simultaneously clobbered and gifted. During the past couple of years, my family and I haven't been able to escape this reality. Relentless heaviness and enormous pressure have been weighing us down, yet in the same breath, we are being lifted up and carried, lightening our load and allowing us to enjoy the beauty that surrounds and embraces us. We have screamed for normalcy, but have continually been hit with abnormalities. We have cried for simplicity, but complexities never fail to intrude. We wish that our lives were painless, but we never find ourselves free from all the trauma and agony that haunts us. Though despair tries to imprison us, we must learn from history and observe the legacies of people who suffered through deep dark shadows and didn’t let their situations grip or overpower them. They lived in the contradiction of embracing love, hope, and joy through it all. Our journeys a