Masterpiece

It is often wise to take an inventory and self-reflection on our lives. We must ask ourselves, what can I learn from this? Recently, a good friend of mine were chatting about this same thing. It is something which I learned from him, to look at every life situation by taking that self-inventory and what I can learn from it. Perhaps those life lessons that we learn can have a ripple effect which others can learn from as well, sometimes when we don’t even realize it.

The past year has been full of many challenges for me. I’ve had many struggles with my health which includes being diagnosed with a second cancer, having my husband deployed (the good thing about that was having him come back home after a two-year absence), relocating to a new state which has been far away from family and friends, and moving into a new challenging job.  We all go through difficult times in our life and it may seem like there is no end in sight. That is the way that I felt, and I thought to myself, what other challenge or catastrophe is going to happen next? When we are going through those difficulties, we may ask ourselves how can I possibly get through this? As I was going through my second cancer challenge, thoughts that raced through my mind was why does this have to happen to me? Haven’t I been through enough with the first cancer? There was simply no rhyme or reason to it.  Nevertheless, as I take that self-inventory and look back, I think that perhaps it was to get me to understand that strength I never knew I had. That situation also helped me to have more gratitude even for those small, simple things in life we often forget. Let’s face it, life sometimes gets so busy that we forget and need to be reminded of many important truths. For me, it was to be reminded to continuously be grateful and to express that gratitude. I am truly, most grateful for the outstanding doctors I have who have that heightened awareness and are always on top of things. If they hadn’t been, that cancer may have grown into something that would have been harder to treat.

If you are going through difficult situations in your own life, whether it may be health issues, relationship problems or whatever it maybe you can get through it. I want to share the following song which has helped me and maybe it can help you too. The song is called “Masterpiece.”

The deep meaning that I got from this song is that whatever pain is in your life, there is a reason we go through these trials and difficulties which is to refine us by molding and shaping us into the person we are to become. Those “masterpieces” that our creator has meant for us to be. Just as a songwriter takes that sheet of paper and creates those masterpieces with words and music notes, I believe we as individuals are the same way. As we go through these trials in life we may sometimes question, where is this path going to take me and is there really a plan for me? I’ve asked myself those very same questions. Nevertheless, those painful moments in our lives, is but a small moment and it will turn into victory. Our patience and faith is put to the test, but the key is for us to NEVER give up and to keep on moving forward.

Throughout the trials I’ve been through in my life, I’ve had people ask me how do you manage to keep it together? Simply put, it is a choice. I could wally in self pity, which I have done, but then I realized by doing that it gets you absolutely nowhere. I tell people that you just have to keep on rolling with the punches! I’m not going to let the bad things that happen to me rule my life. Sure it is hard, but the way I see it is that you have to look beyond the bad and realize that the good will be coming. The bad is not going to last forever and you will come out stronger for it. An important message that I want to convey is that we continue that journey of self-discovery and work on our own canvas and create that masterpiece of ourselves by striving to be the person we are meant to become. I want to end with the following quote that I came across which is such a great reminder for each of us: