"Don't Quit In The Pit"

 

So....I wrote this article a few years ago as I found myself climbing out of the Pit of death, grief and recovery. Like a scar that never quite goes away but tells its own unique story of how it got there, this popped back up this week and I wanted to share it for that "someone" out there who needed the reminder to never quit in the Pit.

There is this invisible hole we all long to climb into when times get tough. When flood waters come, when cancer knocks on the door, and when death happens while we sleep. We get our shovels out and we dig.....we dig until the Pit is big enough to crawl into and we can no longer be seen. We sit with our knees curled up to our chests as we rock back and forth, in perfect sync with our pain.

If you haven't taken that shovel off the wall of your garage yet and started digging, you will someday. It's not a matter of WILL you....its a matter of WHEN will you.

I sat out next to a fireless-firepit this past Saturday with my dear friends Jack and Marlane as my realtor showed the house to a potential buyer. It was cold, misting rain and my coffee had moved from hot to cold in an instant. We talked about the Pit....the Pit that swallows us up during times of crisis and heartache and how, when life comes crashing down all around you and nothing looks familiar anymore, the Pit is the only place you long to be. You want to be alone with your sorrow....feel the comfort and proximity of the walls around you and feel the familiarity of your knees wrapped tightly in your arms. It's a place of comfort....for awhile.

Right after Chuck passed away, I picked up the shovel to start digging my Pit. I wanted to be in that Pit almost as bad as I wanted to sit and eat an entire Becky-Arterbury-Buttermilk-Pie alone. But.....I couldn't. Every time I'd pick up that metaphoric shovel, someone would come up and say, "Come on, you need to go to coffee"....."Let's go to The Stand"...."Keep Moving...Keep Breathing...Keep Out of the Stinkin' Pit, Liz." And before long, the Pit lost its appeal.

And in the words of my friend Jack, when we look up from that dark quiet Pit of despair, we see a pinhole of Light. We see a roll-down ladder heading straight towards us...and no matter how deep your Pit might be, it is not too deep for God's ladder to reach you....and rescue you.

There is beauty in your despair. You just need to remember to look up.

Letter To Myself In 10 Years

 

"Letter To Myself In 10 Years"

lizetheridge

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I read a story the other day about a 12 year old girl who died suddenly from pneumonia. While going through her belongings, her family came across a letter she had written......to herself.....and was not to be opened by herself until she was 22.

She never saw 22.

In this letter to herself, she wrote what she dreamed she'd be like in 10 years. It was beautiful. She knew herself better than anyone, yet, she didn't know herself at 22.

So, what if we all wrote a 10-year letter to ourselves? What would we say, what would we hope for ourselves? On this cold, snowy morning, I thought I'd share my 10-year letter with you before licking it closed and placing it in a safe place to be opened in 2031.

Dear Liz,

I guess by now when you open this letter, you are almost 71 years old. You will be a few years past Social Security, if there even still is a Social Security. Most likely your sweet pup, Molly, will be at the Rainbow Bridge and the aches and pains of being almost 71 will be creeping up on you.

Your granddaughters are now 26 and 28, probably out of college and possibly married.....starting lives of their own.

Is God still first in your life, Liz? Do you still wake up each morning, grab a cup of coffee and spend one-on-one time with Him? Do you still cry when you see a cardinal or hear the song Amazing Grace? Are your eyes still focused on the miracles all around you? Are you still grateful for everything.....even the hard things?

I hope you concentrate less on your "stuff" and more on others. I pray you are still finding magic through the lens of your camera, capturing glimpses of heaven no matter where you are living.

But what if you aren't alive to read this in 2031? Do you know where you are? Did Jesus recognize you as a Follower of His the second you breathed your last breath or did He NOT know you because you were just a lukewarm Fan of His? I keep remembering that scripture in Matthew that says "You can enter God's Kingdom ONLY through the NARROW gate. The highway to hell is broad and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult and only a FEW ever find it." (Matthew 7:13).

So, I pray you are still on that narrow, bumpy road to eternity when you open this letter in 10 years.....dying to yourself each of the 3,650 days between then and now. Stay on the narrow road, my friend.....don't take the easy road. Love, Liz