I'm weary.
Are you weary?
I was thinking this morning of the old Thomas Paine quote, "These are the times that try men's souls..." and wondered if it would be off-beat to apply it to now.
These ARE the times which try us: stay in... distance yourself... wait.... suffer....
But these are also that times which have great potential to grow us.
I began this week with a passion to focus on forward. Not the sticky mess of NOW or the speculations of then... no. To put one-foot-in-front-of-the-other and pull the pieces of life together to form something... anything which might resemble this new (even if temporary) "normal".
So I write.
I read the books which build my soul.
I keep teaching out the rest of senior year.
I wash the dishes after dinner (and throughout the day when needed).
I do another load of laundry.
I keep some form of pattern for cleaning the house.
I buy my groceries.
I turn off the news and social media.
I engage those who are around me.
I reach out to those who aren't.
I live.
90 years ago our grand-parents and great-grands endured much worse. A stock market crash prompted soaring suicide rates. People were without heat, a balanced diet and even a home. Generations invested in farms lost everything and had to move on.
Theirs was the epitome of despair.
But they lived.
They became resourceful. They celebrated occasion and tradition. They kept writing and reading and teaching and cleaning and pulling together what they could for their meals.
They lived. Their stories live on today and, even as the last of these generations are all but gone, the pages of history tell their tales.
If you read them, straight from those who lived it (not the politicized after-thoughts from those who weren't there) you may find notes of despair... but most of all, you find hope, resilience, ingenuity and a drive which went on to define their generations for the rest of their lives.
We are not in those times. Our struggles really are much more temporary than theirs. However, we can draw lessons from these sages of the past and we can have hope in the Greatness of our future... not because of material or wealth or food on the table... but because, no matter the situation, Christ is our hope and eternity is the greatness we strive for.
Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I
know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every
circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
So take a step today. LIVE. Live like there are thousands of tomorrows and no tomorrows all in the same. Have hope and share hope. Rise above the situations and rest in Christ, allow His light to burst forth in you and through you that others might come to know Him.
Life goes beyond us but God uses us for our part in it... even and especially in our trials. You can do this... eyes on Him... you can walk on water in the midst of a storm.
Blessings to you♥️
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