Last night my husband and I attended a symphony concert. As I watched the musicians pull their bows across the violins, violas and bass instruments, it occurred to me that it’s the friction against the strings that creates the magnificent music. Without that tension and pressure, all of those instruments would just be pretty, silent wooden boxes.
Perhaps it’s the same with us. We would probably never know the extent of our strength, the depth of our love, or the true quality of our character if we lived a life free of trouble. In one letter my mother wrote while caring for my dad, she said, “I wouldn’t have wished this last five years on anyone, but I’m glad for the experience. I can’t think of anything else I could have done that would have given me the opportunity to grow as much mentally and spiritually as I have taking care of him.”
Today if you can look at the stress and pressure in your life like a bow pulling across the strings of your heart and mind, perhaps you will see that caregiving has forced you to be bigger, stronger, more capable, patient, loving and giving than you ever dreamed possible. It’s harder than anything else you will ever do, but it’s also contributing to making you truly magnificent person.
