Matthew Lyle Landsman

I started “writing” this whilst rinsing suds off my shower curtain…
You can’t paint a wall with one stroke of a brush; you can’t walk a mile with the very first step. You can’t fill the wine glass with one footstep of the crush, and you can’t recall if you can’t forget. But that’s a real fine place to start.
You don’t get tall just growing an inch, and you can’t be happy if you don’t know how to frown. You don’t ride the horse with just the saddle’s cinch. But you can’t do anything lest you make a start.
I didn’t learn to enjoy having one around, until I learned to live alone. I never appreciated light till I stayed awake till dawn. Never learned to hold so tight until I had to let go. Those harder things are part of the deal, and before I could love you, I had to learn to love me. And that was hard and took many years. I heard it said, “You can’t get there from here”, but I never knew what it meant till I’d hit bottom, and not on the first time.
You can’t raise a barn with just one nail. You can’t cross a river standing at the bank. You can’t embrace what it means to succeed, till you’ve fought back the tears at the moment you, or another did fail. No, you’ll never stand at a mountain’s peak till after the journey and the winds, the back slides, and fatigue. If you found it too easy, put another less able on your back and do it again. I’m sure then you’ll see what I’ve seen.
Standing in a forest doesn’t make you a tree, nor does picking the apple. Wishing something doesn’t make it so, but praying for it is a step and a great place to start. And praying to say thanks is an even better way to end the day after your desire came true. Always, always, remember where you came from. It was a real fine place to start.
There can be no green without a bit of wet gray, be no rest without a measure of toil. There can be no greatness lest another be humbled. And sometimes when I’ve finished second to another, I was satisfied. Because had I not been there for him or her, they’d never have been able to begin the journey at all. Even a victory is of no satisfaction if there isn’t another to help you celebrate. If you don’t agree, try being a parent. Finishing at all is sometimes a very fine place to start.
I don’t need to be the greatest arranger of words to enjoy my gift. I can’t change the world with just one line. But if my mind is left to not answer the call, and my hands sit idle, then I know I can’t make any difference at all. And the toss of even a tiny pebble can break the smooth water and start the mightiest message carrying waves of all. The first thought that got me here to share this tale was a very fine way to start.
When I began this journey, I knew many days that I was told I couldn’t get there from here. There were days I knew that doing what I was might keep me from heaven. And I was told as much. There were days I was afraid that stopping mid stride might leave me with too much to explain. And there did come a time when I was unable to forgive myself for the way I’d lived and that I might be turned away at the gates. But time went by, and when I asked if I be destined a dark eternity, I was told, “no son. Rest your troubled soul. You really can’t get to there from here.”