The sludges of life.
It hits you.
One day you’re stepping in the soft dirt with the sun’s heat beating down on you.
The easy going pace of life has suddenly taken a huge turn. A turn that’ll test your grit. It’ll test your faith and perseverance. It’ll make you second guess everything you’ve known thus far.
You’ve reached a bridge. A bridge that requires you to balance and walk on one foot. You become distracted and have managed to misplace your footing. You struggle to regain balance but you fall in the murky water; unsure of what’s below. Hopeless.
You won’t give up without a fight. You’re in pain. Bruised. Tired. You muster enough strength to arise from the water.
Once you’ve reached dry land though, you’re beaten. The water has weighed you down. The dirt has now turned to sludge. Sludge that adds weight to your legs as you try to walk. Hopeless.
Your life suddenly feels like sludge. Sticky. Dirty. Unloveable. Stuck. Hopeless.
It doesn’t matter how much you fight, it’s still there weighing your legs down. Keeping you knocked down. Beaten. Tired.
One day you observe the sludge is slowly coming off. Your legs start to feel lighter. You have the strength to carry on and continue. You have hope again. Hopeful you will survive.
But ask yourself. Is the sludge coming off or did the sludge cause you to become stronger? The sludge wanted to break you. It wanted to bring you down. You didn’t allow it. You only became stronger. Wiser. Hopeful.
The sludge in life may cause you to be discouraged but hold on. There’s always hope at the end.
“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” Romans 3-5
Keep moving. Keep growing.
-Bethany
ramblingsofbethany 