it will shine out the clearer.

Today was not easy. Harsh winds blew outside over the roads that are pretty much paved with ice. If I wasn't homeschooled, it would have been my second snow day in a row. And I couldn't focus on my schoolwork. When I tried to start, my mind would drift off. Several times I grabbed The Two Towers and read a few pages before going back to my school. (Who can blame me, really? It's a pretty AMAZING book.)

I just felt so tired, so weary. The winds outside reflected what was happening to me on the inside - barren winds blew over my soul, eroding all endurance until I just broke down. So I took twenty minutes just to breathe. I listened to music, wrote a bit in my journal. And I kept thinking about finding beauty in the pain. And it's such a very hard thing to do. But I think that the beauty in my pain was knowing that it doesn't have to be this way. I can change. I won't be worn-out forever. I can embrace (thanks, Megan).

I've been thinking of this quote for most of the day. (That Sam. He's definitely my favorite character in Lord of the Rings.) And the times when I most feel like I can't do it anymore, I repeat to myself - it will shine out the clearer. Life is sometimes rough. Things don't go the way you want them to. It makes you cry. It's a fight; every day - a fight to be more than what you are now. But you have to remember that when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer.

I won't forget.

abbie // xoxox

p.s. books are one of my favorite subjects for photography. :)