For the past couple of years I've been working with a client (though it may be a little more appropriate to say that she's become a dear friend) who has had some serious mental health challenges for some time.

Well, one day, while wandering in the North Georgia mountains, I stumbled across a bent tree. This was not just any old tree, but it was about fifty feet total in length, about six feet off the ground in a 90 degree angle for about forty feet, and then ten feet straight up. It was a beautiful, fully grown southern pine, yet I could only curiously wonder how it ended up that way.

I happened to share this story of the bent tree with my friend one day.

She said, "Well, that seems a lot like my story."

"Actually. It does, doesn't it? You're just a bent tree in the world, aren't you?" I replied.

"Yeah, but that's normally occurring, right?"

I said, "Well. It's not that common. But yeah, it's normally recurring."

What does that mean for us? I think the honest truth is, almost all of us don't happen to grow as straight as we're supposed to. Very few of us turn out that way. What if it's all normal? What if it's all just perfect based on time, place and circumstances that might cause us to be a little bent? What if we could see everyone and everything through that eye, through the lens of non-judgment? No condemnation. Seeing nothing wrong.

A bent tree. The analogy worked for her. It might work for you too.