Focus on your feet.
A friend of mine is going through one of the hardest periods of her life—caring for her husband with cancer. She could be dreaming about the future, and she does, but she said something you may not expect, “I’m really trying to focus on where our feet are.”
Because here’s the thing: you can’t bypass the hard things, nor should you. You don’t escape the pit by only longing for days in the sun. You don’t get out of the valley by gazing at the mountain peaks. You have to take in your current surroundings.
Has someone hurt you? Focus on your feet. Are you dealing with an unexpected life change? Focus on your feet. Are you in a tough phase that seems like it will never end? Focus on your feet.
Yes, dream, yes, hope, but don’t miss your life right now.
I know there are worry and pain down below. I have been there too. But there is also beauty in the place you’re standing. It’s in the people around you who have stepped in to help, it’s in your perspective which is being broadened, it’s in your inner strength which is emerging, it’s in your relationships which are growing stronger.
Don’t miss it. Don’t miss your opportunity to grow in the dark spaces. Even if your circumstances don’t turn out the way you want, one day you will climb out of this place. But don’t miss on the life that’s happening while you’re here below.
Hope for the lighter steps of tomorrow, but don’t forget to focus on where your feet are right now.
*Behind the post*
I was so taken aback by my friend’s comment. She and I have been walked through hard times together and I knew her words to be true, but I thought it was so wise that she can see so clearly while in the pit. Often times it’s easy to look back and learn after the fact, but she’s living out the lesson now. I hope if you’re reading this because you are in one of life’s hard seasons, just know good things can happen in this place. There will come a time to move, to move on perhaps, but I’ve discovered that sitting in the pit, sitting with the pain, is so necessary.
