Life Lesson 471~ The Crossroad

 

“There are moments in our lives where we find ourselves at a crossroad, afraid, confused, without a roadmap. The choices we make in those moments can define the rest of our days.” ~Unknown 

Life can change in an instant. One single decision, on any given day, in one direction or another, at just one solitary crossroad can change everything. And I mean everything! 

The decisions we make in these moments can rewrite our history...erase and erode truth and reality. Every memory, every moment and every possibility for the rest of our lives can be gone in a split second if we’re not careful. 

You can lose it all in just the blink of an eye. Your home, health, job, and yes, even your family.  And if you think it takes a lot for any of that to happen, you’d be wrong. It doesn’t take much. One tiny break in your foundation can split your whole world apart. Add assumptions, a breakdown in communication, misunderstood intentions, misrepresented sincerity, deafening silence, a pinch of hearsay and voila! You’ve got one heck of a sorted mess to unravel. 

Is any of it necessary? Probably not. But does it stop us from burning down the house anyway? Nope. If we’re agitated enough our anger, differences and resentment can and will erupt into a fiery rage. And if we can’t contain it, well it can get ugly. Matches in hand, feathers ruffled, tempers flared, spectators cheering, drizzling kerosene, we impulsively light it up. We’re so filled with anger and hostility in those moments, we have no regrets. We watch our home, our family and the life shared together burn to ash. 

Once the deed is done, what comes next? Well, some try to rebuild. Some grieve and apologize. Some hurt. Some cry. Others lick their wounds. Most need space and a little time. A few will try and talk it out, looking for a compromise and a way to start over. And then there are the broken. They've unsure, scared, probably in shock and speechless. Holding their head in their hands they stand there staring at the scattered debris.

So, the question here is this. When the smoke clears and reasoning returns where will you be standing? 

Grudges get us nowhere. They simply keep us angry, misunderstood and apart. At some point roadblocks, intentional or not, need to be put aside. Detours carefully thought out. Rumors, reconsidered. Bad directions, poor advice thought through and examined one more time. If not, the love and life we once knew completely fades away. Dimming and ultimately vanishing until nothing is left but dust and in time even that too disappears.. 

When we hold onto grudges, fanning the flames, we don’t just hurt those who love us, we ultimately hurt ourselves in the process. We can disagree. See things differently. Be at odds, clash, have conflicts. Heck, we can even have an opposed perspective on events. But none of those things require burning the house down. Not one.  

 

It all comes down to the choices we make. Especially when we’re sitting at a crossroads. We all take wrong turns. We all say things, do things we regret. Everyone messes up. We’re human. We fail. We’re disappointed. Every last one of us falls from grace and lets those we love down. No one is immune from disillusionment, setbacks or regrets. Every last one of us  holds unrealistic expectations and yes,  we all stumble.  Whatever our failures, whatever mistakes have been made, we’re ALL human. But this is the thing. We gotta be willing to parley. Open a door. Sit down at the table and talk about it. Listen and hear one another without preconceived  biased opinions or beliefs. If we want to be understood, we have to be open to conversations, discussions and a dialogue. Not talking about each other to everyone else. Nothing gets solved that way. 

You see, it’s not the error of our ways which defines us. Not at all. What matters, what truly defines us in the end is how we rise from the ashes. Are we capable of forgiveness and unconditional love? Can we offer the same grace we so often ask for ourselves? These are the real questions we need to ask ourselves. 

Because when we’re angry, we don’t think about the fall out. Or how lost time affects us down the road. But the reality is we don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring. What news will befall us.  And if we stay mad too long, the ramifications may never be undone. This is the reason crossroads are so important. Why? Because we only have today. Tomorrow may be too late.

So, here we are at another crossroads. Life is too short for days to turn into weeks, and weeks into months and months into years. If it's been that long, the gap is growing. Life is fleeting. Time is passing. No, there’s no undoing the past but there is always a way forward. The choice has and will always be yours. No matter what crossroad you choose, near or far I will always love you.  

~ Merida Grace