STEADFASTNESS

     Each day I search for what I might call steadfastness, and it’s usually easy to find. I see it, of course, in the trustworthy sun that always shows up when it’s supposed to. For billions of years, no matter what muddles our human world might be in, the sun has reliably risen each morning to make a new start for us. I see it also, as I look out each morning, in the true and constant trees on our street. A few, I’m sure, have been faithfully there for more years than I’ve been alive, and all of them have been standing in a resolute way for the 12 months of our residence on this street. And speaking of resoluteness, where can it be found more unfailingly than in my own breathing, coming in and out in its unwavering way moment after moment after moment? Even when my world seems to have been temporarily torn apart, my breath, my steady friend, still faithfully sends me fresh oxygen, fresh opportunities to be brave. All I need to do is stay quiet in the storm and listen to my breathing, the trusty team leader of my little life, as it keeps bringing its gifts.