day of thanks . . .

i find myself in a strange place today; i'm thankful, but mostly for the things i've left behind. i'm also thankful for the things in front of me now, but i find myself rejoicing gratefully about what i've been through, what i've escaped.

dysfunctional relationships have a way of rooting themselves so deeply in our lives that at the worst points it seems we wouldn't be able to live without them, or that we'd be horrible friends if we extracted ourselves from them. i've had to learn that smoetimes the best thing you can do is to get out.

this isn't to say that once out, the pain is gone; but slowly the tension, guilt, and grief subsides. and there's a "glitch" in that era of your life, there always will be. but as time passes, that glitch, the abnormal unpleasant blip on the radar screen of your life, which at one time seemed unforgettably gigantic, seems smaller and smaller.

thank you God for making the rough places plain.
for redeeming our rough parts with time.
for helping us leave things behind.