Lisa Wuthrich Curless – News

So here we go.

A new year.

As my mind falls back upon the moments of 2009, I am shrouded with memories of moments that made me proud of the woman I am and moments that cause my eyes to fall to the floor, in shame.

A year ago this day found me just beginning my journey at school. Found me a little more broken a lot more unsure of my footing and not really sure that all the pain was worth it.

This is still after all just a story of a girl.

I want very much to say a “simple” girl from Logan Utah, but if you know me at all…..there is truly nothing simple about me.

Last year was sprinkled with moments full of fake boob inserts, and smashed out car windows, and eccentric teachers and moments that reminded me that even when the sky is the darkest…there is always reason to laugh.

I was bound in moments frosted with blessings. Winning the Soroptomist Award, the first semester of gettint straight A’s…..and watching my babies heal a little more every day.

I always rather thought the whole new year thing was rather cliche. After all if you were not already striving to be that person you want to be…..a date in the year is not going to change anything.

But having tasted the bitter waters of the past two years….finding myself laying on the hard bathroom floor, sobbing myself to sleep, having hurt more then I even imagined a person could hurt and still walk around and face the day, it is good to have a new start.

God meant it to be that way.

I am so in love with the seasons of the year and I use to think it was a metaphor for our lives….born in the spring and death in the winter….baby to elderly.

I see now with eyes that are more clear. There is not only but one season of our life….every year is a season and a pallet for change.

Every year….we are born in the Spring and we have the whole year ahead of us, laid out. Flawless and white it holds the allure of a million possibilities, a gift to carry forward the good things in your life and a precious chance to change the things that you know need changing.

Then Summer…..warm and ripe and a time to work hard. A time to be brave and take chances and risks, to have the courage to make changes in your life and changes in that person who is looking back at you, from inside the mirror.

Long days when the pansies that line the floor of my fathers greenhouses, stretch with their little faces and follow the sun.

A time to play and laugh and take a moment and lay on the cool grass and remember that though this life is hard, and it is so hard sometimes, that this is all here that we may have joy. Joy…..think about that word. We are here that we may have JOY.

I think there is happiness sprinkled all about us….we are the ones that focus on the sad, and the ugly, and the imperfections in one another. We choose to ignore the watercolor shades of the sunset and focus on the crack in the sidewalk.

Then Fall, my favorite of the seasons…..A time to harvest. A time to not only take note of the accomplishments of the past year, but a time to gather in your fruits, mine are my children, and see how much they have grown and changed. How their hair is a little longer, their bodies a little taller and their minds hungry for the stories of the world.

The colors of fall are warm and the feeling is tepid. There is comfort…and peace and a readying for winter to rise and take her place.

And so she does…..with the first silent snow fall of the season. The coldness moves in and with it arrives silence and a precious time to sit and reflect. A retracing in your mind of the steps your feet carried you through the last year. Fingerprints of yourself that were left behind not only on situations but on people….hoping they were left in places that were good….and if not, a chance to try again.

I am learning that life is never going to be simple. It is never going to just flow along without the smooth stones to dance about…..but I am also learning that I would not have it any other way.

So as this year begins a new….this little girl finds herself still standing.

Take a moment to take it all in. Good or bad, filled with immense happiness or riddled with unimaginable sorrow…..the last year of this life was a gift, and here you are…..much like me……..

Still standing.

May this new year bring you more joy then you could even conceive existed…..bring you trials that challenge the strength of your heart….. opportunities to give more of yourself then you ever thought you could give….and love. More love then pools in your eyes can take in.

We find ourselves in the spring of another year…..write your stories well.