If you’ve been tested by betrayal, by death, by meeting your flaws, and still you are, and still you be…
If you’ve ever folded down, crumbled, all alone and nobody to impress, and in that moment you prayed a bumbling, fumbling prayer of bleeding honesty…
If living has purpose…
If you know who you are…
…and know who you aren’t…
If you recall your youth with some embarrassment…but think your grandparents would respect your adulthood…
If you know what Home means…
If the I Do is still doing…
If you are flawed, and realize we all are…
…if your family is flawed, and you realize they all are…
If you had a weakness, and one-day-at-a-timed it…
If you’re past the dumb stuff…and ready to face life like an actual grownup…
If healthy means more than pretty…
…if settled means more than chasing…
If you’ve pulled yourself away from the crowd that still needs the crowd…
If you’ve ever given someone a piece of your mind and still had enough pieces left to know you need to apologize…
If life would still be interesting without electricity…
If the fish that got away is still gaining weight…
If you can joke about old shames…
If at least once a decade you tremble with gratitude…
If once a year you cry and feel real…
If you’re in awe that God would entrust you with raising His/your children…
If you got to say goodbye and have no regrets…
If in a quiet moment, you pause and measure where you are from where you were, and have the good sense to be humble…
If you feel love…
If you’ve known bottom and bounced…
If it ain’t easy, but you don’t know how to spell quit…
If the second thing you want to do in heaven is thank your parents…
If you know how to work…
If you’ve figured out that money is only money…
If what people think isn’t something you do much thinking on…
If practical rules over presentation…
If you turned out to not be dumber than you thought…
If the grass was greener over your own septic tank…
If you’ve ever had an animal adore you…
If you’ve been there at the last heartbeat…
If you’ve had enough trouble to not be afraid of trouble…
If hard times proved you come from good stock…
If you’ve ever done good in secret…
If you swish the coffee cup out and call that clean enough…
If you served an elder in their decline…
If you’re sentimental and don’t care if anyone understands…
If air is something you take in and not put on…
If you’ve ever played air guitar to Clapton, or reached for a hankie when they played Taps at a funeral…
If baby giggles are better than chocolate…
If just once, your favorite team won it all…
If a butterfly ever flirted with you…
If you and God are cool when your head hits the cool side of the pillow…
If you have one friend from way back…
If you have something to live for…
…and something that will outlive you…
If hope ever pulled you out of a dark spot…
If you’ve ever shook an angry fist at God…and found Him gentle…
If you’ve ever had your pride melt like a candle…and spoke with broken words to Someone you weren’t sure was really Up There…
If you’re still wondering what you want to do when you grow up…
If gardens feel like chapels…
If the best of your sacrifice will never be appreciated in your lifetime…
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
This edition of Uncle P’s Bedtime Stories is brought to you by Eighty-one, where we think if you’ve ever known any one of these…you’ve touched the Good Stuff. Uncle P wishes to acknowledge that this Bedtime Story was easy to write, because something Bigger was in his ear.
Uncle P can be reached at 81creativity@gmail.com. Other Bedtime Stories can be found on the Eighty-one Facebook page.
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