one man's trash is another man's treasure

One man's trash is another man's treasure.
This applies to more than just flea market and yard sale finds. It applies to people too.
Some can only see the diamond when it's polished up and placed in an expensive setting.
Some have enough imagination to see the diamond in the rough and the patience to transform it into something that has universal value.
I've always thought that young people are more physically attractive because they don't yet lack the maturity to see less than obvious beauty. 
You become attracted and fall in love with the exterior and if you're blessed, by the time that beauty fades, you have fallen in love with the interior.
This is why it breaks my heart when people cast aside the partner of their youth and move on to greener pastures.
Yes, obviously, sometimes there are good reasons to leave instead of cleave, I found two excellent reasons of my own. 
But don't we miss out on the opportunity to witness the metamorphosis of character if we don't commit to the long haul?
Becoming who I am has been - continues to be - a painful process. 
So many times I have had to look back in shame at the decisions I made. 
I try not to play the "what if?" game going backwards... like a Monday morning quarterback. 
I try to just play the "what if?" game going forward... accepting and embracing possibilities. 
I think they call that ambition. Optimism. Hope.
I pray that God will always give me the ability to see the hope in hopeless situations.
I pray that He will always allow me to see the beauty in the ashes. 
I want to be the kind of person who can always say, "hold on, it will get better."
And by His grace, I can say those words with the authority that only comes from experience.
There are many battles in life that I would not have chosen to fight.
Yet, still, I am grateful that the choice was not always mine to make.
I might have chosen to take the easier path and missed out on the opportunity to say with all sincerity and honesty, "I know what you're going through". 
The very things I have grieved in life - am grieving - are the very scales that needed to be peeled away from my eyes so that I could see beauty where otherwise there might have been none.
He gives beauty for ashes, strength for tears, gladness for mourning, hope for despair.
I am grateful to not be who I might have been had I taken the easier path.
I'm grateful that my life has been filled with three legged cats and non-honor roll students and small apartments and trailers instead of mansions and people who might not be as socially acceptable and perfect. 
I'm grateful for every person I loved who didn't love me back.
I'm grateful for everyone who loved me beyond what I deserved.
I'm grateful for the treasure I find where others might see trash.
And I'm grateful for those who see treasure in me.
God is good.