Metaphors to Keep You in Flight

Metaphors are like an old friend.  They are easy to be around plus they help transport us from the familiar surroundings of our current world to the unfamiliar reality of a new world.  In that new world are buried untapped resources awaiting discovery.

Practically, metaphors tap into right brain activity – the emotional and experiential side of our lives.  They help us make valuable connections between what we think and know with what we see and feel and lead to change and growth.

Metaphor in Greek means to “carry something across” or “transfer.” The Grand Canyon we must cross is from logic to lesson; reason to resonating; stuck in the mud to gaining traction on firm ground.

This recovery journey has been ripe with metaphors that have helped to stir hopefulness and make sense out of suffering.  Metaphors have helped me get my head and heart around the challenges of loss and grief and realign with reality.

If you don’t get traction and find hope during dark times, you stay bogged down in the sticky gumbo of your despair and aren’t able to find your way to higher and dryer ground.  Gumbo grows a great crop of life, but takes the seeds of believing there is purpose in pain and possibility in pitfalls.

Metaphors to stir up hoping for the best…

• Battle scared and beaten up but not destroyed
• There’s a light at the end of the tunnel and it’s not a train!
• Look for the lighthouse to guide you through the fog to safe passage
• Set your compass on the truth north of believing good will come from tragedy as you trust and rest in the love and care of God

Metaphors to inspire dancing with the rest…

• When given lemons, make lemonade not sour grapes
• Without clouds there is no rain and no growth
• Two prisoners see bars – one sees mud the other sees stars
• Trees with deep roots have endured wind and storm and are stronger for it
• Opportunity knocks during adversity – will you leave your pity party and answer the door to the experiences that await you?

Some days, I’ve been in the rough and felt like there was no shot to make.  Other days, I’ve landed on the green in two and played a par round.  So many people have been in the stands cheering me on that it’s been possible to keep stepping up to the ball time after time and hitting the shot I’ve been given.  I’ve learned how to hit difficult shots out of sand traps and tall grass and salvage a round I thought was lost.

This journey continues with no clear landing strip in sight but I’m confident that God will continue to keep fuel in the tank and allow me to stay in the air and soar until He decides where and when I’ll land. For as long as this recovery journey lasts, I am choosing to bloom where I’m planted and sow seeds of faith, hope and love at every opportunity.

What metaphors have you used to help you hope for the best and dance with the rest?  Which of these metaphors listed resonate with your journey right now?

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