You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make wonderful plans.
The Coliseum.
The Michelangelo David.
The gondolas in Venice.
You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland.”
“Holland?!?” you say. “What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.”
But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place full
of pestilence, famine and disease. It’s just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new
language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you never would have
met.
It’s just a different place. It’s slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after
you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around…and you
begin to notice Holland has windmills…and Holland has tulips. Holland is still a beautiful place.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy…and they’re all bragging
about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say,
“Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned.”
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away…because the loss of that
dream is a very, very significant loss.
But…if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to go to Italy, you
may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things…about Holland.
By Emily Perl Kingsley
We bought tickets for Italy..not Holland.
God decided that Holland was where we were to go.
So now we just sit back and enjoy Holland for all its beauty..because God is our tour guide .
Posts
Wow. I just found your blog after seeing a post on a friend's blog, but this is such an amazing post. I'm goin to go catch up on your other posts, now, but wanted to say that this was such a cool metaphor... thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThis is so beautiful. What a great, positive way to look at things. Stay strong, we are all praying for your family and baby Mason!
ReplyDeleteI came across your blog and I just wanted to let you know your faith in God is amazing! Praying for your little one.
ReplyDeleteMe again....the more I read this poem, the more I didn't like it, I blogged about it too after Grady was born and after recieving so many copies. What I found to be most compelling is how the poem refers to the pain that never ever goes away. I can tell you this, with Hope and Faith in the Truth of Jesus Christ, the Pain will go away and Mason will be just a catalyst to that process! Hugs
ReplyDeleteWow - so beautiful! Thank you for sharing this with us. I saw you on The Bump and have been praying for you, your family and, of course, Baby Mason.
ReplyDelete