I am a duck

One of my all time favorite articles/blog post is called From the Homefront: What You Don't See. In the article, Lewis states, "I like to think that good parenting [and might I add mortal existence?!] is like a duck on the water. What you see is the gentle, almost effortless gliding, not the furious paddling that happens underneath." Throughout my adult life, as close family members and friends have confided in me with hard, heart wrenching personal trials in their life that I would have never known or expected had they not shared, I have always thought back on this duck analogy, and also a line from one of my favorite hymns: "In the quiet heart is hidden sorrow that the eye can't see." As I have mourned with those that mourned and comforted those that stand in need of comfort, I have learned to love more, to be a better friend, and to judge less.

In the article Lewis also states, "I started a blog last fall. I dragged my feet into it for many reasons. One of the main reasons I hesitated was I didn't want to be another contributor to the cyberspace guiltoshpere out there... do we need one more reason to feel guilty? Because from the looks of things, other families are happier, their houses are cleaner, their marriages are better, their clothes are more stylish and their craftiness is even more crafty. Their lives are perfectly lovely, while my kids are running around screaming in their diapers."

I love blogging. I love to write. It is truly a hobby and my therapy. I try to be authentic and real when I post. Sometimes however, I feel like a hypocrite. When I post about things I'm loving, there are usually an equal amount of things I'm hating, and contrary to popular belief, bedbugs were not the most traumatic experience of my life :).

My mom gave a talk in church a couple months ago and said, " I know that there is not one person in this congregation that doesn't struggle with something. One thing I have learned, is that every family, and every individual, has some kind of trial, even suffering, they are dealing with. The intensity of those trials varies over time, but everyone has them or will have them. So sometimes when I get consumed with my own challenges, I look around a realize I am not alone. And I can even be grateful for my own problems. I know that our Heavenly Father is very aware of our private and not so private sufferings."

I am a duck, paddling more furiously underwater than ever before, and take comfort in knowing that I am not the only one.