Believing in the Impossible
“There is a place. Like no place on Earth. A land full of wonder, mystery, and danger! Some say to survive it: You need to be as mad as a hatter.”~ The Mad Hatter
How very true this statement is in the everyday real life of the cancer survivor!
Life can be so amazing. Every possibility is a new adventure, full of promise and hope. Just because life isn’t fair does not mean we can’t overcome the impossibilities life throw s our way right? We have to be willing to work it out, through all the highways, byways and through the bogs and even through the trenches, we can rise up victorious even if the outcome isn’t what we were expecting.
Life’s journey is a risk, for everyone, cancer survivor or not. Many times we can see the danger life offers us and become afraid, feel weary even before we set out down the road. I myself have walked the down the winding roads of fear and pain. I have struggled to pull myself up from the shadows and burdens of my own journey but I have found healing in the journey as well.
Many other’s have walked this road before me and so I know I am not alone, many understand just how I feel and the depth of this pain cancer has struck me with. As I have recently witnessed many of life’s survivors stay lost and confused, but I know 3without a doubt there is healing in the grace of God. Does that mean life is perfect, without trial or fear? No by all means life is quite the opposite. So many times we are just unable to see beyond the door in front of us. We can’t see the hope just beyond the threshold holding us back.
To think we have been given these impossible tasks can be a nightmare, playing out in our minds daily. How can we be thrown into such chaos? Why have we survived when those we have grown to love haven’t? Where is the healing for such pain as this? Why is the sanity in all this sorrow? The truth is I have heard hope is born of suffering, so then I must admit I am full of HOPE then.
I have to pause here and reminisce about Alice (Disney’s Alice In Wonderland 2010). She kept dreaming of this Underland, full of nightmares. Yet when her eyes were completely open she saw how precious this place actually was and how those who dwelled in actually Wonderland were gifts of the journey in her life. Alice continually talks about believing in the impossible as she states she’s “believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
Believing in the impossible can be the key to the door holding you back! We are hear together to share the journey, when we are surrounded and closed in by the enemy, we know the impossible is only impossible if you believe it is. I love how Alice says, “I've been shrunk, stretched, scratched and stuffed into a teapot!” A good laugh true, but how true is this statement in our own lives? How many times are we given up to the enemy, feed to the lions and stuffed into a cage we want nothing to do with? Yet how many times are we rescued just in the nick of time from such an ending as this?
The Jabber-baby-wocky, as they call the beast in this film has to be slain. All through her adventures Alice proclaims she will not slay anything. The Mad Hatter who has grown to love Alice becomes quite annoyed with her at this point saying, “You don't slay. Do you know what the Red Queen has done”?. Yet when the time comes, when the time is right Alice steps up, follows through, wearing her armor, holding her shield and sword. Was she scared? You bet she was, but even after the White Queen tells Alice. “When you step out to face that creature, you will step out on your own” Alice walks out onto the chess board and strikes out at the beast.
But you see grace can be found just inside hope and hope just inside fear. It is like stained glass if you think about it. Stained glass is nothing more than broken glass scattered on the floor, left as worthless scrap. But what happens once a Master gets hold of the broken glass, after He refines all of the broken pieces and restored the broken pieces that were left on the floor? They become beautiful… stained glass… refined by the fire, beautiful, inspirational and made whole again.
Yes our tears may sting the hardest in the dark of night, and maybe our miseries can pull us down, bend us out of shape but the truth is our journey, as a terrible mess as they can seem, are beautiful, refined by the fire, pieced together as amazing melodies, stories yet untold.
After all isn’t that what happens to Alice. We do not have to give into the shallowness of our shadows. No… we can rise above; pour out the honest cries of our pain. We can become part of the scattered debris or we can be refined by the fire. No matter how hard we try we can’t sit around trying to figure out the whys, or uncover the master mind of this chaos. The real truth is we can’t hold back our doubts or fears forever. I love Alice because she lives her life out loud and even though she wants to escape Wonderland, in the end when all is said and done she stands up, alone to the beast. Then again after emerging from the rabbit’s hole, dirty and worn out no matter how much she wanted to run, how better off other ‘s thought she would be with a set life of their liking, Alice stands up to the crowd, and accepts the adventure before her.
In the end there is always joy inside of us, we just have to embrace the beauty of Wonderland… ready to appear to have gone mad to the rest of the world. Isn’t that the secret both Hatter and Alice knew?
The Mad Hatter: “Have I gone mad”? (Alice checks Hatter's temperature) Alice: “I'm afraid so. You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are.” * ( IMD Memorable Quotes)
Christina Olachia
How very true this statement is in the everyday real life of the cancer survivor!
Life can be so amazing. Every possibility is a new adventure, full of promise and hope. Just because life isn’t fair does not mean we can’t overcome the impossibilities life throw s our way right? We have to be willing to work it out, through all the highways, byways and through the bogs and even through the trenches, we can rise up victorious even if the outcome isn’t what we were expecting.
Life’s journey is a risk, for everyone, cancer survivor or not. Many times we can see the danger life offers us and become afraid, feel weary even before we set out down the road. I myself have walked the down the winding roads of fear and pain. I have struggled to pull myself up from the shadows and burdens of my own journey but I have found healing in the journey as well.
Many other’s have walked this road before me and so I know I am not alone, many understand just how I feel and the depth of this pain cancer has struck me with. As I have recently witnessed many of life’s survivors stay lost and confused, but I know 3without a doubt there is healing in the grace of God. Does that mean life is perfect, without trial or fear? No by all means life is quite the opposite. So many times we are just unable to see beyond the door in front of us. We can’t see the hope just beyond the threshold holding us back.
To think we have been given these impossible tasks can be a nightmare, playing out in our minds daily. How can we be thrown into such chaos? Why have we survived when those we have grown to love haven’t? Where is the healing for such pain as this? Why is the sanity in all this sorrow? The truth is I have heard hope is born of suffering, so then I must admit I am full of HOPE then.
I have to pause here and reminisce about Alice (Disney’s Alice In Wonderland 2010). She kept dreaming of this Underland, full of nightmares. Yet when her eyes were completely open she saw how precious this place actually was and how those who dwelled in actually Wonderland were gifts of the journey in her life. Alice continually talks about believing in the impossible as she states she’s “believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
Believing in the impossible can be the key to the door holding you back! We are hear together to share the journey, when we are surrounded and closed in by the enemy, we know the impossible is only impossible if you believe it is. I love how Alice says, “I've been shrunk, stretched, scratched and stuffed into a teapot!” A good laugh true, but how true is this statement in our own lives? How many times are we given up to the enemy, feed to the lions and stuffed into a cage we want nothing to do with? Yet how many times are we rescued just in the nick of time from such an ending as this?
The Jabber-baby-wocky, as they call the beast in this film has to be slain. All through her adventures Alice proclaims she will not slay anything. The Mad Hatter who has grown to love Alice becomes quite annoyed with her at this point saying, “You don't slay. Do you know what the Red Queen has done”?. Yet when the time comes, when the time is right Alice steps up, follows through, wearing her armor, holding her shield and sword. Was she scared? You bet she was, but even after the White Queen tells Alice. “When you step out to face that creature, you will step out on your own” Alice walks out onto the chess board and strikes out at the beast.
But you see grace can be found just inside hope and hope just inside fear. It is like stained glass if you think about it. Stained glass is nothing more than broken glass scattered on the floor, left as worthless scrap. But what happens once a Master gets hold of the broken glass, after He refines all of the broken pieces and restored the broken pieces that were left on the floor? They become beautiful… stained glass… refined by the fire, beautiful, inspirational and made whole again.
Yes our tears may sting the hardest in the dark of night, and maybe our miseries can pull us down, bend us out of shape but the truth is our journey, as a terrible mess as they can seem, are beautiful, refined by the fire, pieced together as amazing melodies, stories yet untold.
After all isn’t that what happens to Alice. We do not have to give into the shallowness of our shadows. No… we can rise above; pour out the honest cries of our pain. We can become part of the scattered debris or we can be refined by the fire. No matter how hard we try we can’t sit around trying to figure out the whys, or uncover the master mind of this chaos. The real truth is we can’t hold back our doubts or fears forever. I love Alice because she lives her life out loud and even though she wants to escape Wonderland, in the end when all is said and done she stands up, alone to the beast. Then again after emerging from the rabbit’s hole, dirty and worn out no matter how much she wanted to run, how better off other ‘s thought she would be with a set life of their liking, Alice stands up to the crowd, and accepts the adventure before her.
In the end there is always joy inside of us, we just have to embrace the beauty of Wonderland… ready to appear to have gone mad to the rest of the world. Isn’t that the secret both Hatter and Alice knew?
The Mad Hatter: “Have I gone mad”? (Alice checks Hatter's temperature) Alice: “I'm afraid so. You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are.” * ( IMD Memorable Quotes)
When I was boxing, I would have loved to have you pump me up before a boxing match!! I have a dear friend who was diagnosed with a cancer in her lymph nodes and I am going to foward her this entry.
ReplyDeleteI know she is down but I think coming from you, these wonderful words can perk her up a bit!!
I love your comparisons to Alice in Wonderland! This is a wonderful post; I really enjoyed reading it!
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking a lot about being a survivor lately. I've survived breast cancer for almost 14 years now, but my mom just died from breast cancer after 26 years. I can't help thinking, how much longer do I have? But each time depression threatens to bring me down, I dig down deep for that joy that still survives in me.
If you'd like to read a little bit more, here's a post I wrote about a year ago about being a survivor:
http://lemondroppie.blogspot.com/2009/03/im-survivor-baby-twelve-years-and.html
Here's to many more years!