So often, I hear people who have chronic illness say, “I want a life!” or “I don’t even have a life!”

I understand what they mean. All of us experience that wrenching away from what we have enjoyed or found comfort in. Cherished activities, relationships, meaningful work. And it can be really tough to see anything as good in the future, especially life in general, one’s own life in particular.

But do we really “have” a life? Even if we are in good health? Or, would it help to look at life a little differently?

As a writer, I know that none of my work, be it articles, books, or this blog, will get written unless I put the pieces together one word at a time. In this sense, I don’t “have” a written product at all, but rather I “grow” it from all of the pieces that I bring together in it. Words, yes, and thought, perspective, information – there are all sorts of “seeds” that I plant on the page in order to have, one day, a fully-grown authored work.

So it is, I have found, with life with chronic illness and pain. There’s nothing easy about these days and nights when health concerns are foremost, seeming to hold us back and down from what we really want to have and do. But, if we look at our lives as works-in-progress where we “seed” our time with good things, we can see that, in order to enjoy a good life, one that brings at least some satisfaction, light, and joy, we need to work at it seed-by-seed.

The things we do today will impact how well we are able to cope, relate, and benefit from the good seeds we’ve planted.   A grand thought to take to heart, especially as so much of the rest of our lives is out of our control, as it is with chronic illness.

Wonderful friendships aren’t “had” as if they can be bought off the shelf. Fitness, education, faith, the very essence of who we are as God’s children – each of these, too, is built, grown, and strengthened by each step we take.

How do we grow good lives?

One blessed seed at a time!

Blessings for the day,
Maureen