“Daddy, no—I can’t look. I can’t look, Daddy,” my daughter sobbed.

 

“Maya, you have to look,” I said.

 

She was only four or five at the time. We were on top of a bunk bed watching a mini DVD player (no streaming back then, lol).

 

A Life coach had recommended a movie called The Little Princess, so I wanted my kids to see it.

 

The story is about a little girl whose mother passed away, and whose father—being in the military—had to leave her at a boarding school while he went to war.

 

The little girl was smart, funny, outspoken, and had a beautiful heart. But the headmistress despised her.

 

The scene that had my daughter in tears was when the girl learned her father had died.

 

The headmistress then forced her to live in the attic as a servant. It was the lowest point of the story.

 

But I knew what Maya didn’t—that everything was about to turn around.

 

At her darkest moment, the girl chose to comfort another child by imagining joy: warm food, bright decorations, love, and light. The next morning, everything they had imagined was there.  It was the turning point of the story.

 

Maya, still crying, said, “Daddy, I can’t. I’m too sad.”

 

I told her, “But you have to look, Maya. Because if you don’t, you’ll miss the happy ending.”

 

She lifted her head, wiped her eyes, and kept watching.

 

Why do I share this with you?

 

For a number of reasons.

 

The first is that life is hard, and we can’t reach the happy ending without going through the hard parts. And often, it’s the hard parts that create the happy ending.

 

The second is because my daughter is my love. I wanted to prepare her with what I had learned and was still learning—that while we don’t control everything that happens, we do have a measure of control over how we respond.

 

That control is in how we choose to think.

 

Had the girl in the movie not imagined what her life could be the story would have unfolded very differently.

 

It was because of her vision, her faith, and her imagination that she eventually found her father again. That’s what led her to her happy ending.

 

The third reason is this: I want my children to be strong. Life will knock them down. There will be moments when I can’t be there to help, as much as I’d want to. My hope is to give them the greatest power I can—the ability to use their minds well.

 

To stay positive.

To keep their perspective.

To pray and to trust God.

 

Because those are the tools that carry us through the lowest points and bring us to the joyful ones.

 

So how do we find the strength to keep going, to keep looking?

 

This is where the photo above came to mind.

 

One day at Disney, my then wife snapped a picture of me and my daughter. In the sky above us, written in clouds, was the word “TRUST.”

(God was guiding me with things like this. We didn’t know that trust was written in the sky until we developed it.  Yes, I said developed it :-)

 

That’s the key. Trust.

 

When times seem darkest, life is asking us to hold on. To trust.

 

I know a lot of people feel heavy right now with what’s going on in the world. There are real concerns—we shouldn’t take them lightly. But every generation has lived through its own dark chapters. And what mattered was how they responded in those moments.

 

If we keep showing up, sharing, listening, loving—we’ll get to the happy ending.

 

So if your heart is heavy, know this: you might just be at the climax of your story.

 

Let’s let these times bring out the best in us, not the worst.

 

And if you feel stuck in your own story and can’t quite see the happy ending, I’d love to support you. You can schedule a complimentary coaching call with me.

 

Much love,

Bert