He Understands....

'There's nothing new under the Sun Questions we have Have been said and done Fully God and Man He felt it all, all, all High as King but still He's low enough To meet us where we are

He Understands He was alone, left by his Friends Foxes have Holes, He had no where to go No Place to lay his head So if anyone knows He Understands

Have a Friend, He Understands He Understands' Chandler Moore

It has all been said, has all been done, has all been seen, under the sun.

When I begin to feel the solitary weight of healing from abuse, from the torture inflicted physically, mentally, verbally, emotionally...I find reminders in the songs that hit my algorithm, the messages that come across in the nick of time, the group of women I spent time with last evening with their own stories of escape and pain and I sit with it...I contemplate, meditate and review the slightly nauseous feeling it gives me to know there are so many...so many hearts broken, children damaged and hurting...men walking among us

who know no shame, regret, nor remorse and are so often let go with a slap on the wrist...

I can tell you that the emotions were overwhelming...frustration, anger, despair, wonder and dismay...I sat and listened to the ladies as they chatted over the food and drink, over the noise of the t.v. and felt the weight of a thousand souls crying out in shame and hopelessness. We sit beside them in a restaurant, bump into them coming out of Timmies with coffee in hand, sing along in worship at church, give them a hand-off at the hospital....

Well...you get a small picture of what I saw last night...my brain houses a technicolor play-back in detail, and what I haven't experienced my mind has no problem filling in creatively and imaginatively.

I made it through...I quietly listened, for that is all these women need most of the time...we just need an attentive and empathetic ear to release what's being carried inside.....

I made it to the last minute and then said my goodbyes, and I will not lie...I felt as though I was floating slightly above the ground while simultaneously creating 6" depressions in the ground with each step. I stopped and actually looked back thinking the ground was soft as sh*t and my vision would show footprints in the tarmac. All was as it should be, of course.

It was me...just my overactive imagination, the heaviest of hearts and lightest of minds creating a vortex within.

If I live to a hundred years old I will never, never, understand the propensity the human race has for hurting one another. Never understand the cruelty that hides and resides in so many...never understand the elation some derive from exerting absolute power and control over another, especially the one they love. It is a twisted, perverted love....a thing to use and abuse...

All I can do, all any of us can do, is to NOT remain silent...

All I can do is love more...to combat the pain and sorrow in others...

All I can do is give more...more compassion, more understanding, more kindnesses....for what does it cost us to do so?

Truly...what does it cost us to be kind? To watch what we say, how we speak, how we accept those around us with no conditions, no parameters, no box, no prison....

Love frees, love provides a safe haven...

I beseech you dear friends to love with all you have and leave behind the ego, the self-protection, the fear.... and love others....

Freely given, love becomes a tool for good...a tool for healing...a tool for peace and understanding....

If I haven't told some of you lately... I Love you, each and everyone. For those who know me...you each have a special place in my heart and live there with such love. You represent what is good and lovely and wonderful in my life, and I thank you for being that tool of compassion, of acceptance. This....this is what keeps my feet planted, my heart grounded and my mind maintained in something resembling sanity. This....is what keeps me here. I am at once humbled...thankful...grateful...and readier every day to do battle.

Stand tall survivors....speak softly...and walk it out, one tiny step at a time...you are worthy of all kindness, compassion and love. You are....you are.