Last week I wrote a bit about how I am encouraged by how things at St. Barnabas have been going. Activity is active; Attendees are attending; Spirit is Descending.
All Good.
While my life is not as wrapped up in church life as it was in the days of the evangelical grist mill. I still work hard and smile when it appears that God is smiling, too.
This past week has seen a different part of life here at the Old Homestead in the Suburbs. Life has been tossing the proverbial lemons. But, they’ve been rotten. No lemonade here.
I don’t recall spending much time on this here Blog-thingy writing about personal events. Yeah, there have been the milestones of seminary graduation and birthdays and holidays. But, in general I choose to keep my personal life personal. I mean, I don’t want to be off-putting. But, my life in general is no one’s business but mine.
However, sometimes what we experience may be something that resonates with others. How we deal with these experiences could just be the tonic that someone else needs. Or, it could just state the obvious that we’re really not alone and our experiences aren’t so weird. Others experience the same kind of stuff. So, what I experience might encourage someone else.
Over the last six weeks we’ve been dealing with health issues that have been as frustrating as they are serious.
(No, I’m not the one with the issues this time.
But, that doesn’t lessen them.)
There have been 4 trips to the ER, 2 inpatient stays in hospital, several rounds of tests and scopes and such, and multiple doctor appointments.
There has been a lot of pain and discomfort.
And, like I wrote above…
FRUSTRATION.
We now have a handle on most of it and there is in fact a positive end in sight.
While that is encouraging, it doesn’t cover for the sheer exhaustion, both physical, mental, and emotional that this has taken.
We are well and truly Tired!
On top of that we recently lost two members of my extended family to domestic violence.
It’s a situation that sux horribly.
A young mother and son gone in a senseless act of madness that should never have been allowed to happen.
Yet, it was.
We have gathered around our family member to support and protect as best we can.
But, the pain lingers and the anger burns.
We humans are a resilient species.
We have to be.
We are a very breakable creature that must be cared for carefully.
Yet, even in our fragility we have developed the ability to heal and bounce back.
Sometimes, (most times?), stronger and more capable than before.
I am sure that all of us will walk or crawl through the adversity that we find ourselves in.
I am equally sure that our relationships with one another will grow strong and be more than able to support the weak, infirm, and hurting.
Yeah, life’s hard.
But, we can, we must, live it as it is.
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