front door still wide open as the Uber driver pulled out of our driveway, and
I marveled within that overwhelming feeling of gratitude that washed over
me at this sudden revelation.
You see, it was not so long ago that I was literally homeless, living in
shelters, abandoned vehicles some nights, couches and corners within drug
houses, basically where ever I could find shelter. I wandered through nearly
two decades of a drug induced reality never feeling as if I truly belonged
anywhere, believing that I was worthy of nothing good…especially love
and happiness.
Having survived years of incarceration within a broken existence within the
state Foster System you see, had left me deeply wounded…but far from
damaged beyond repair. I can tell you this now, share this epiphany if you
will…but it was not always so easy, it was not always so profoundly self-
evident.
This journey we all know as life is a well-crafted story, a story that in many
cases is being written for each of us long before we ever draw our very first
breath within this world. Each of our stories is sprinkled with all the
elements required of a classic…a true page turner; there are thrills and tears,
there is laughter and romance, there is peace, and of course…there is pain.
Many are not aware that while we are living out the very writing of our
stories, we are also simultaneous reading these very stories. What I mean is
this, let’s take my earlier reference to my returning home this morning from
Canada. The event within that page of my story was the realization, the
gratitude I felt the moment I entered the confines of my home…that was my
writing within my story. That moment which I referred to as my spirit
responding,
well…that was the reading of my story, that was in my opinion what I refer to
as “the reading between the lines.”
The events that we all experience in life; the good, the bad, and the ugly (to
use another clever and commonly used twist of phrase), are there to
earmark the beginning of new and exciting chapters within our stories, but it
is the experience that lives between each event that provides the key to
unlock every door of opportunity within the land of purpose.