All posts by Rachel

Speak Now

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Everyone has an opinion, which means everyone has something to say. Even when we all might see, hear, and do the same things, we each have our own lenses, filters, and motivations. Regardless, the point is no matter what it might be, we all have our own perceptions of how we identify with the world and one another.

However, it seems to me that more times than not, the only time we speak our mind is when we are not satisfied. Almost never do we share our opinions when we are content. It is that we are only propelled to action when we are stirred by conflicting beliefs? Sometimes I think we speak and act to defend, but at what point are we just being negative?

I’ve learned over the years no matter how much you do for people, no matter the level of success you reach, and no matter how genuine you try to be, people are always going to find ways to pick you apart. While the negativity speaks through megaphones, the positive lays dormant, content in the silence of the multitudes. If we could only learn to speak when we were happy with things, how much different of a picture would be painted?

The Stairs Make the Staircase

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It’s so easy to get lost in the routine of everyday life. Your world becomes a never ending to-do list of things that hardly ever get done. Almost like a sequence of repetitive motion you know that your tomorrow will be nothing but a slight variation of your today. Something that at times is welcomed, even most of the time enjoyed, can bear weights stronger then the strongest can hold.

How much is getting things done worth, if you can’t even enjoy the moments of getting to the top? I’ve always imagined the view at the end of a goal would be the most rewarding of sights and most likely the greatest of feelings. However, how much more would it mean to enjoy the view on the way up?

For the driven, things add up quickly, maybe even more so for the less motivated. We get stressed out, exhausted, and at some points let down. Our time is consumed faster than the next day can begin. We try to stretch something that can’t be multiplied and create something that can’t be made. I have come to believe that the greatest successes stand little in comparison to the moments of enjoyment that get us there. While the small things often times seem to slip between the cracks, they are the very things that make the view from the top all the more worthwhile.

A Thousand Words

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When reflecting on our lives we recognize both moments of good and bad, both moments of strength and weakness, and both moments of triumph and defeat. While all of our lives are a mixture of these things, why does it seem like some are more evident in our minds? We don’t praise our strengths, but instead pick apart our weaknesses. We don’t glory in our victories, rather sulk in our defeats. We feel the good in the moment, but allow the bad to linger in constant torment. Even in our greatest moments of optimism, we can’t seem to entirely let go because as soon as we seem to forget, something happens to bring it all rushing back.

I believe scars remind us the past is real, but without them it becomes easy to forget how far we’ve come. In them are painted the stories of the hurt we’ve experienced, but even more than that, they represent the hope that we can overcome. If every tomorrow is truly better than today, we can know that even though there will be bumps in the road, the future is still bright.

Therefore, our greatest testimony does not lie in our successes, but in the failures we refused to let keep us down. Oftentimes our lives are the pictures of grace that say far more than we ever could. While each individually unique, they all hold the power to impact, move, and change those after us. What we feel was our greatest mistake is really nothing but His greatest glory.