Skeletons

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There are skeletons in the closet.

I never invited them, but hiding them was no good. They only rattle around at night, and stick their heads out when I'm not expecting it. They reach their bony hands out and grab me as I walk past when I've forgotten them. They seem to always want their presence known.

Skeletons aren't like weeds, or pests, or aggravating people. They're already dead, but they never go away. They'll always be there, unless you face them and and come to a place where you aren't afraid of them anymore. And even then, at the darkest parts of the night, you may still hear a little rattling behind your shoes and the dust bunnies and old Barbie collection in the deepest, dustiest corner of the closet.

Skeletons can dictate the way we live. We can go out of our way to avoid them, and hide them from people we want to impress, or people we're afraid won't love us if they know who we really are. Skeletons feed on fear. We're afraid of them, but they're only there because of our fear.

What can defeat a skeleton?

If you ask your skeletons, clearly, they aren't going to tell you. But there's another skeleton...the one inside of you. The one that holds you together and keeps you standing. The one that's alive and fighting, not just wallowing in darkness, feeding on fear.

You are stronger than the skeletons. They don't want you to know that, and sometimes, they're right. It isn't always true.

It takes more than a skeleton within to make a person stand.

It also takes everything the skeleton holds; the heart, the brain, the muscles, the will, the passion, the courage, the soul. No skeleton can stand without these.

And when you take it away from the skeleton in the closet, he won't be able to stand, either.

The song Skeletons, by The Eli Young Band, really expresses the way I feel about my future right now. Everything you will do will in some way be effected by what you have already done.

And you just have to pray you'll always have someone who loves you, and doesn't mind the skeletons in your closet...because they'll probably have some of their own.