The Compass Points

The teacher ask if anyone could tell her how many points there are on a compass….. Little Johnnie raised his hand and said five! The teacher said five? Why do you say five, can you name them?

Little Johnnie said “I sure can, North, South, East, West,

and…… where I am!”

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Many of us would be hard pressed to argue with that simple answer, and if you include the compass point of where each of us are, the compass becomes larger than any one of us can count.

This morning I learned of the death of a friend who has finished her battle with colon cancer and came out the winner.

We know where she is, but the importance is in where it leaves her family,

including her 10-year-old son.

Earlier in the month the grandson of a life long friend was involved in a horrendous car accident which put him with a broken and bloodied body into a deep coma.

Awakening, his location is now slowly changing as he struggles to relearn

how to breathe, speak, and use his mind and limbs all over again.

I know of another who broke her ankle, another who learned her mother has breast cancer, another who is celebrating the birth of a new baby, another who is recuperating from surgery, another conquering a mountain on cancer weakened legs. And there are others, each at their own point on the compass.

Life leading us around the compass.

For each of these people, their world stopped for a few moments, and moving to a different location did not seem possible. When they brought my friend’s grandson into the trauma hospital they were told IF he lives, his recovery will be a marathon not a sprint.

Through his journey his loved ones are also becoming stronger.

For my friend who died this morning, her family, thru their memories of her courage and love

will move forward by realizing their own strength.

For my friend celebrating the birth of her baby, she will grow in ways

she could never have realized.

For my friend climbing the mountain, he will not notice the pain

nearly as much as the beauty he sees when standing at the top

They are all recipients of changing locations on the compass. For now, they are stuck with what it seems like nowhere to go. Confused and afraid and some of them happy, but still totally unrelated to the rest of the compass. This moment on this earth, their point of location is

the primary point on the compass.

If they will allow themselves to take notice,……..

“Where I am”,

will take on a whole new meaning for them….

“Where I am”

is forever etched in stone as a turning point in their lives….

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I reach out to dream

Of peace

Of love

Of strength

Of relief

Of silence

Of laughter

Of all those things and so much more

I reach out to see not where I have been,

But with God, I see where I am

With hope I see not how to get to where I am going

But I see where I can be.

I need to be where I am

With God at my side

My trust comes from

appreciating

where I am.

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