Strengthening

Why do we choose to do hard things?

Changing?

Tearing?

Removing?

Refraining?

Do we like to suffer?

Or do we like to strengthen?

Or are the two so interwoven

That you can’t have one without the other—

Like a vine wrapped tightly around a trellis

But when refinement is in process

Resilience is bolstered

And if strengthening is the end,

The suffering is lessened

The wilderness sweet

The loneliness sacred

The pain is but an ache-

Like waking up after surgery

The ache of progress

The ache of wholeness

The ache we need- to be alive.