Let Your Life Be Beautiful

Let your life be beautiful, every single corner of it. Let it blossom and develop. Let it break your heart and bring joy simultaneously. Part of our human condition is to give way too much attention to the negative parts. The hard days, the nos and perceived set backs. When in reality, in the entirety of that day there was a lot of beauty.

I find myself in an odd season of equal parts joy and sorrow. Mourning the loss of my father and also in the happiest time of life, preparing for the birth of our first child. But even in the loss of my father there is beauty. The pain I am experiencing is a testament to the relationship we had and that is a beautiful thing. If loss didn’t hurt us, it’s hard to say we truly loved someone. I got to love my father on this earth a lot longer than many other people did. I am thankful for the relationship I had with my father and I miss him dearly, but I hold such high honor knowing where he is. Knowing that he is fully restored and pain free. How can I not see the beauty in that?

That’s the thing about life though, it brings both beauty and pain. Often simultaneously. To love anything at all is both beautiful and heartbreaking. Loss is always hard, but it also brings opportunity. I have learned more from the losses in life than I could ever learn from the wins. I wish my dad were here to experience this phase of life with me. To bring his carpentry skills to help do a nursery project and to teasingly remind me that my son won’t care about that wall we constructed.

I find myself feeling guilty for the moments of joy, as though grief is the only way to honor him. Then I realize he would want me to live. Friends, give yourself permission to live, even in the midst of grief. Allow yourself to feel the joy. When the grief comes, feel that too. But remember, our lives are meant to be lived. Cherished. Honored. Not simply survived. In my opinion, the highest honor we can pay someone we’ve lost is to live. Take the lesson and live. Much love sweet friends.