poem ~ the challenge

The challenge to stay true to you
will always be a fight
Unless you remember that those around you
cannot be your light.

The challenge to love through the pain 
will forever be the gap
Of understanding what it means
to love in spite of the attack.

The challenge to never quit
when all that's difficult and grim
Means one must shatter all
such thoughts and totally abandon them.

The challenge to consider more
than what's written on the surface 
Will show you at the deepest core
a perspective that's with a purpose.

The challenge to live from your heart 
when it's been thrown completely away
Is the only way to connect it all
and gain the beauty in each day.

The challenge to share and be vulnerable 
when to live behind a mask
And pretend that life is perfect
is a concept most can't grasp.

The challenge to choose to forgive the ones
that have stabbed you in the back
Is the only way to release the feelings 
to expand in grace and not intentionally lack.

The challenge to believe in hope
when the tunnels dark within
To find the vision for your life
is the best choice my friend.

The challenge we each must face
is uniquely designed to make
You stronger through it all
yet it's a risk that only you can take.

The challenge will present itself
each and every single day
But the choice in all of this is yours
and to that end I will pray.

© Misty W Gilbert
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