Hold Space for Everything Else

Behind the happy pictures of my smiling kids is a lot of love…and, well, countless tears and prayers, unspeakable struggles and sorrows, and so much hard. And behind that reality are these lessons:

- Don’t compare your every day mundane to someone else’s highlight reel. We are all struggling. Don’t let yourself believe you’re alone in your struggle.

- It’s not dishonest to celebrate the love and joy of family in the midst of the hard. The love is authentic which means sharing the love is authentic—even if it’s not easy. The joy is real which means sharing the joy is real—even if there are other feelings too.

- It’s much easier to see & sit in the brokenness. We have to fight to see the joy, search for the healing, choose gratitude. Hopelessness will overwhelm you if you don’t fight for hope.

So post the happy pictures, talk about the love, share the joy. And hold space for everything else.