Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty had a great fall,

Instead of King’s horses and all of his men,

He took a log road trip.  He’s not been seen again.

Not exactly like the original, but my friend Julie got me to thinking with her post today about picking up the pieces.  All of our lives are filled with things that crack us, twist and turn us, make us feel as though we’ll never get up again.  Some days are worse than others.

I also read another post by Paige Givens which illustrated how hearts can easily become bruised, crumbled, bent out of shape and even when repaired, they are never the same.

We can allow these distractions to beat ourselves up – to put ourselves down – to wonder, why me – to give up, or we can use them to help us heal.  God knows all about our bruises and scars.  He made it possible for them to be erased.  I’m sure my two blogging friends will agree that life is not easy.  We suffer, we cry, we argue, we feel wounded, we struggle, we get angry, we fret and worry and all those emotions are natural, but God doesn’t want that for us.  He loves us too much to see us suffer.  Instead he erased all the cracks, the bumps and bruises, the mistakes, the failures, the sins and gave us a second chance.  What a blessing to know that we are given second chances every day.

For my family, there have been numerous deaths this year.  Each one of these loved ones carried a piece of me along with them.  My heart ached and wept for them.  So instead of selfishly feeling sorry for ourselves, we decided to proceed with a long awaited road trip.  We are confident that those departed loved ones are now enjoying the benefits of heaven.

It’s time for us to pick up the pieces – to flatten out the wrinkles – to begin to live again without sadness.  It’s time to laugh.   So Paul and I took off today for the big road trip.  We started out with talk about the route we’d take, which was already mapped out by Triple A.  We joked and started talking to each other as true Minnesotans, Lena and Ole.  We laughed.  I felt like we were on our honeymoon again.

In the past road trips have included frequent potty stops, food stops, more potty stops, singing camp songs, sightseeing, camping in the great outdoors, enjoying nature and by the end of the week equally joyful to return home. This trip feels different  It is kind of a release.

We aren’t done yet, but I have a good feeling about it.  Picking up the pieces is really easy if you let God put you back together again.  I’ll keep you posted on our fun vacation.