Once Upon A Time...

Once upon a time, in a village in the seat of power of the most powerful nation on earth, lived a little girl.  This little girl was born into a broken family filled with broken people who thought that by bringing this little girl into the world, they could heal their broken selves.  Alas, her birth only served to bring attention to the holes and cracks in their souls and so no healing ever took place...only more sickness and rot came to their hearts and their souls slowly began to die.

Miraculously, the little girl lived among the death and decay, seemingly in a bubble of sunshine and warmth.  No matter how dark and ugly her world was, she saw only light and beauty.  No matter what they did to her, she found a way to look past the act to the person and know that it had nothing to do with her, that they were ill.  She found only pity and sorrow for them in her heart.  She knew that she didn't belong in this world and she waited for the day that God would allow her to escape and find her true purpose.  She held tightly to the light and love within her soul and, hoping to nurture it, she shared it freely with others in spite of the scorn  and ridicule of her broken and rotting family.

In an attempt to escape, she married young to someone who was also born to broken souls.  Unfortunately, his heart was also marred and beginning to die so their union was dissolved.  The girl (who was now a woman), couldn't bear to spend the rest of her life in a land so dark and desolate.  She wasn't sure where the journey would lead, only that it had to lead to light and beauty because without this, she could not thrive.

One day the young woman met a man.  This man brought light and love wherever he went.  People smiled when he walked into a room and everyone wanted to be around him.  The young woman was instantly drawn to this happy and joyful man; she yearned to bask in his light.  She never wanted anything from this man except to be around him.  They became friends and she was glad.

Then one day the man turned his favor to her and began to court her romantically.  She was aghast!  How would she ever be able to live in his world.  She was young and stupid and ugly and he was handsome and brave and kind.  In the dark, dank recesses of the world in which they lived, he shined a light that lit those spaces and warmed those who dwelt within.  She could not resist; for the light and beauty that lived inside of her heart yearned to be joined with his.  She fell hopelessly in love with him and, by some miracle, he with her.

And so they were joined.  The sunshine and love and light the woman had always felt was able to blossom and bloom when joined with his.  She found that life was meant to be this way.  That the broken bits of her past were just a means to bring her to this place.  That God smiled favorably upon her and sent her not only this wonderfully kind and loving man, but allowed her the grace to live out her days with him.

And so they lived...happily ever after...

Namaste