Willing and Able

Willing and able do not always go hand in hand. In fact, there seems to be a ginormous mysterious chasm between the two sometimes.

I’m willing to fly, but I’m not able.

I’m able to run, but I’m usually not willing to unless something is chasing me.

These things – willing and able – often exist independently on completely opposite ends of the spectrum.

I have always been more than willing to be a mother, but when it came time to make that dream a reality, I wasn’t able. Years of trying and hoping gave way to the harsh truth that it was just never gonna happen. And now the time has come to tend to my health and have the ‘seal the deal’ surgery.

Signing the consent forms at my doctors office, reading the fine print, and stating the obvious risks and outcomes tugged on my heart strings harder than I was ready for. I think it is pulling on my funny bone a bit too because, just yesterday while trying to decide what to give up for lent, I joked that I am giving up my uterus. Bad jokes aside, it is a painful situation.

The irony of my realization is that, while I am willing but not able, there are also plenty of women that have been able but are not willing. Foster children waiting for willing parents to give them forever homes are at an all time high in my community, and likely in yours too. Pregnancy is not always what makes a parent. The willingness to love and care for a child does.

If you have questions about the foster-adopt program in your community, I encourage you to reach out to the organization. The kids you would be helping are both willing and able.

Maybe we can bridge this mysterious gap in my lifetime?

Maybe this is a calling that I need to answer?

Maybe today is the day for questions instead of answers?

Sigh.

Today’s post was inspired by Lisa Jo Baker’s Five Minute Friday prompt, “willing”.

Tagged: foster parenting, infertility