Thoughtful Thursday

You have probably not been down this road before. Your life -like my life, has taken a drastic and sudden change. Isn’t it amazing how abruptly life can sometimes change? Not sure how you handle it but I usually prefer a tad bit more notification. But this is the change that life has dealt us and this is the hand that we must play. And I am willing to bet that you are not liking this hand any more than I am.

Perhaps, a few months ago, you were a two parent family and now you are a one family parent. Perhaps you have lost one of your two incomes or even both (I shutter to think so). Maybe your home has become a different type of sanctuary -perhaps it is now an all-inclusive cauldron that you did not order -working from home, home daycare, home school, band hall, break-room, after work happy hour, band practice, lunchroom, movie theater, spa -I could go on and on but you can imagine for yourself or add your own experience. Perhaps you are isolated and everyone you encounter is behind some kind of protective shield -gloves, masks, plexi-glass (can you even recognize a smile if someone is wearing a mask?). Whatever the case, life has dealt us a swift blow to the gut and we have no idea when the tides will roll normalcy back in our direction.

So how are you doing? How are you handling today, -just today -because today is all we have. Is there any possible way to choose joy in the midst of all this? Can you truly say, I’m ok, when the cabinets and refrigerator are getting bare or when you have to prepare 3 meals, 2 snacks, 4 baths, 3 boo-boos, Timmy’s trombone practice, zoom meetings, technology glitches, cat throw up, your daughter’s freshly cut bangs that she did herself, your son’s meltdown because he cannot play with any of his friends and his birthday party will not be at miniature golf but in your dining area with virtual friends -maybe; and to round out day, your husband thinks he is constipated and needs to nap the rest of the day. All of this under one roof in at 24 hour period … really -how are you? Find yourself needing to runaway for a day? Sorry to report … everything is closed -no spa, no parks, no retail therapy, no sitting in Starbucks with your friends. Do you ever feel like life is a merry go round and you just want everything to stop spinning so that you can just get off, even if it is only for a little while? Ahhh, only if we could, right?

Who are we now and what on earth are we going to do? How are you gong to rise? Better yet, how are we going to move forward and keep our family intact? By now I think most Americans are finally getting to AA (acknowledging & accepting). They acknowledge the change and accept that this is going to be different and that we are going to have to learn to adjust; as this is not turning out to an easy quick bump in the road. This journey has turned into the one that has some real curves and growing pains in it that we will have to navigate one way or another. How will we ever get to the other side? Beloved, I like the way Max Lucado put it best in his book — ‘You’ll Get Through This: Hope and Help for your Turbulent Times.

You’ll get through this. It won’t be painless. It won’t be quick. But God will use this mess for good. In the meantime don’t be foolish or naive But don’t despair either. With God’s help, you will get through this.

‘You’ll Get Through This: Hope and Help for your Turbulent Times.

You may be feeling like the walls are closing in and will collapse on you, you may not feel like getting out of bed or even feel as if the pain will never cease. But through all of this, we can choose to get back up again and find our ‘new’way. A way that surpasses materialism. Is there a new tradition we can forge for our families, ourselves, our friends? Anything but sitting still and dwelling on what is no longer within our grasps. Ideas?

• breakfast on a Friday night
• sending letters/notes/pictures to friends, family or even people you don’t know
• family movie night
• facetime/phonecalls to grandparents every Sunday night
• bake an old family recipe … share it with someone
• morning walks and actually wave to people as you pass by their homes
• become creative with environmental stewardship -recycling
• clean the garage/spare room and create a fun space to just hang and play music
• Do your children know what an album is? Music or photos? Try it.
• Yoga anyone?
• Been fishing lately?

My point is that we must be resilient and we must keep moving forward. Did you notice some things on my list were about helping and caring for others? I believe that when we focus on the care of others, we begin to see the turbulence in our own lives in a different light. Try it and prove me wrong. I dare you. I am changing as you are changing and my view on this journey may look different from yours and that’s OK. I am here on my highly introverted journey choosing to extend a hand to another and make the choice to keep pushing. It is alright to cry, to get angry, to get tired, to be scared, but I implore you to push until something happens. Push until you are firmly on the other side. Don’t quit, you cannot afford to quit. I need you and you need me. Together, let’s pray and push!