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Friday, July 11, 2014

Five Minute Friday: Belong

I've fought my entire life to belong. To be a part of what was happening. To fit in.

Belonging has been the yearning of my heart from the first day of kindergarten. The day I discovered there was a much bigger world than my little apartment building. When I learned that other children played in ways that I didn't know or understand. The seed was planted that day.

Years of rejections, of awkwardness, of being "different" watered that seed as it grew into a tree. A tree that I would sit and read under, nestled in it's shade, finding my belonging there, in solitude. My heart was lonely, but at least it wasn't getting trampled. I'd make occasional trips out from under it, to see all the places that my heart wasn't welcomed, where I still didn't fit in. I'd return to my tree, to nurse those wounds.

But on one of those trips out, I stuck around long enough to be accepted. I found people who spoke my language, and when they didn't, they were willing to learn mine and teach me theirs. As I found a place to belong, it was easier to be away from my tree, to risk other places of belonging.

One day soon I will have built my strength to the place where I can cut down that tree that grew from that seed that was planted in my four year old heart.

Linking up with Five Minute Friday

6 comments:

  1. I am your neighbor at 5 minute Friday...I would love to know more about the people you found that spoke your language. I would love to know more about you....thank you for coming out from under the tree and sharing this today.

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    1. Mary thanks for visiting. mmm those are good stories that I hope to tell one day. They are simply too long for only 5 minutes. ;-)

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  2. Beautiful imagery in your writing. The longing and hesitation, the bravery and hope are all delicately communicated. It's lovely.

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    1. I'm grateful that you heard all the pieces that I were floating around in my heart as I wrote this.

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  3. Beautifully written. I struggle in 'Belonging'. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. It's discouraging to struggle in belonging - least it was for me. It seemed like something that everyone else had learned how to do, but I'd missed along the way. I hope that you can find your place of belonging like I've found mine.

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