Twenty Words

My mom and I love to read and have shared many books with each other over the years (and probably could have shared so many more had I not been so slow to transition to the reading corner of the world, but am trying to catch up with her now).

“Oh, you have GOT to read this one.” 

“This is one of the best books I have ever held in my hands.”

We swap books and always come back to the same thought.

How does someone write something so beautiful, so profound to move us so? 

We always comment how we know all the same words the author does, but somehow the order they end up in on the pages of a book, the order they are arranged, make all the difference in the world between something that grabs us or something we leave on the library shelf. 

Last night, while the boys were busy with homework (a.k.a. listening to music on their ipods and texting while the textbook is open on the kitchen table) I checked my email then scanned a few posts of my favorite bloggers then took a quick peek at Pinterest.  (For those of you who don’t know what Pinterest is, well, let’s just say, you’re behind the times and we’ll come back to it another day.) 

When I opened my homepage, my eyes drew quickly to a quote someone had posted.  (Unfortunately I cannot give you the link as it ends up in a black hole of linkdom.)

I read it, then read it again. 

Twenty words…

Twenty words that spoke to me at that moment.

This moment.

I have been on a path that is unique to me and it may not be like your path and that’s ok. 

Or is it? 

It is. 

For me, I cannot be on your path as I enjoy the quiet woods to your ticker tape parade.  I enjoy sweetened tea to your lemonade. I enjoy fishing on the lake to your white water rafting.  My path may wind to the right and up the shoreline and yours run straight for miles past the open countryside. 

They are different roads, but each allow for such great joy and fulfillment that is unique to that path.  Our roads may wrap around the same forest and each can see the gorgeous light reflected through the trees.  We see our own unique sunlight shining through the bold branches, but does that mean my view is more glorious than your view?  Does it mean I am lost because I cannot see your view of the sunlight? Does it mean you are lost because you cannot see my view of the sunlight and are in need of a new compass?  I think not.  The paths are wide and vast on this journey we call life and I heartfully respect the road that you travel, even though it may be unlike mine. 

Your road is what makes you, you. 

Your path is what shapes you into beautiful, you.

Twenty words…

Twenty words my mom and I both know. Twenty words we’ve read thousands of times. Twenty words we’ve written hundreds of times. Twenty words that were put into the right order for me upon this day. Today they are my twenty words and I embrace them tightly and share them with you all at the same time.