you never know

Yesterday at church my attention kept being drawn to a mom and her preschool-age daughter a couple of rows ahead of me. The daughter was really cute with big blue eyes and blond curly hair. The mother was pretty and polished and happy. The two of them seemed to have such a sweet bond. The girl sat on her mom's lap during church and alternated between snuggling into her mom and being a typical three year old at church, requesting books and snacks and wanting attention. The mom was patient and loving. I found myself envious of her as she seemed so at ease with life. She seemed the type of person who everything came easy for.

Fast forward to today-- As I was checking Facebook, I saw a link our pastor shared about a member of the congregation diagnosed with cancer in the past two months. I clicked on the picture and saw with a sinking feeling in my stomach the same pretty mom from church on Sunday. The link was to a blog post she wrote sharing her experiences with chemotherapy and parenting through a cancer diagnosis. The pictures of her husband and kids shaving her head last week got me the most. The put together hairstyle I admired at church was not even her hair, but a wig!

You absolutely never know the struggles someone else is having. It is so true.

Lesson re-learned.