...fallen.....

When I'm not afraid to fail, I wont. When I'm not afraid to fall down, falling down won't feel like failure. I have fallen down enough to get more comfortable with it, to know how productive it can be, how necessary it is to growth. Still, when I sense the ground beneath me giving way, I have to remind myself that it's OK if I falter. I have to remind myself that it's more than OK!



sooo....  THIS is my first shot in a 52 week project that I am doing with my friend Nicole....  We take one word each week for a year and shoot our interpretation of that word (be sure to check out her AMAZING work).  This weeks word is "FALLEN"....  My mind wandered in a hundred different directions trying to interpret this word into a photo.  This was a tough word for me (and I think it was one of MY words!  Sorry Nicole!!)....  In my mind I kept coming back to a visual of ME actually FALLING!!!  Kinda hard to photograph that!!  :)  But as I began to really think about the word "fallen", I realized that I have fallen many times in my life....  almost daily as a matter of fact!!!  And then I remembered the above quote....  those words remind me that it's okay to fall....  I am SUPPOSED to fall!!!  Falling does not mean failure....  it means growth!!!  We all do it.... fall that is!  We fall from grace, fall from what we see as perfection, fall away from our purpose and direction in this life...  and every fall is not without pain....  but the true purpose of our fall is to recognize that "fallen" does not equal FAILURE!  Just like the photo....  we may have stumbled and fallen, but our light still shines!  The trick is to pick ourselves up, brush ourselves off and keep going!!  Moving forward....  wiser... stronger... more agile... and grateful for the times in our lives when we don't fall!!!  So today I recognize that I may have "fallen" but I am not broken!  And I am grateful for the light that shines..... and shows me the way...  whether I am face down on the ground or standing strong....