The Women On My Journey

To the women on my
journey
Who showed me the
ways to go and ways
not to go,
Whose strength and
compassion held up a
torch of light
and beckoned me to
follow,
Whose weakness and
ignorance darkened the
path and encouraged
me
to turn another way.
To the women on my
journey
Who showed me how
to love and how not to
live,
Whose grace, success
and gratitude lifted me
into the fullness
of surrender to God,
Whose bitterness,
envy and wasted gifts
warned me away
from the emptiness of
self-will
To the women on my
journey
Who showed me what
I am and what I am
not,
Whose love,
encouragement and
confidence held me
tenderly
and nudged me gently,
Whose judgement,
disappointment and
lack of faith called me
to deeper levels of
commitment and
resolve.
To the women on my
journey who taught me
love
by means of both
darkness and light.
To these women I say
bless you and thank
you from the
depths of my heart,
for I have been healed
and set free
through your joy and
through your sacrifice.

- adopted