I have a church member who is on hospice and I can’t sit with her.
My daughter is not going to experience her high school’s traditional versus assembly where the classes compete against each other.
I don’t get to chat with my fellow school board members over dinner before our meetings.
Every day it seems there is some new loss. A missed opportunity, a disrupted pattern, a shift of life.
Today my daughter had a meeting for one of her classes. She said afterward that she misses being bored in class and misses seeing other teenagers.
My family is healthy and we’re lonely.
All is well here, but nothing is normal.
I find myself having weepy days or working super hard one day and being zapped of energy the next.
Sometimes the anxiety that I have worked so hard over the years to understand roars back to take control of my thoughts, dreams, or actions.
My faith at this time is the center that keeps me going. God is about this, the unexpected, the life shifts, the world changes.
God’s love and peace transcend all the chaos and fear of the world right now and calls us to find the moments of hope and light in it all.
To help me stay grounded in these challenging times this last week I ordered a field guide for the way, a daily spiritual practice kit. I chose to get the spring kit, Welcome. It’s about dwelling with God and living in to God’s hospitality. The kit comes with a journal and a bunch of supplies including a candle, seeds, and crayons to help complete the journal activities. I did one of these kits a year ago or so and really found it meaningful, but with the busyness of my regular life I hadn’t taken the time to order a new one.
If you are interested in a supplement to your current practice you can order just a journal for $5 or get a full kit for $59. Find out more here.
What ways are you finding to center and ground yourself in faith during these times?
Share here so that together we can keep finding ways to support each other in these strange days.
Blessings-
Eilidh
I’m luckily at home with David at his beach home with his two dogs. Multiple times a day we or I walk the dogs down to the ocean and see all the changes God has provided with the lack of people around. Paths are over growing. No garbage on the beach. Eagles and deers, bunnies and other animals are multiplying and roaming freely. My faith in this beauty is tenfold.
Love that your faith is growing in the midst of beauty and love. <3
Thank you, Eilidh, for sharing your story with us. Tad and I are working towards Spring Cleaning the house (from ceiling to floor) and planting a garden. We have our garden ready to plant vegetable plants or seeds (thanks to Tad). We are deciding where we will put each thing in the garden, how to harvest/store, and making produce baskets for each neighbor. We are trying various recipes with things in his and my pantries. We hung another bird seeder to the living room window. We are attempting to laugh more. Together, we are singing, praying, reading, and keeping in touch with our families. I get tired easily and Tad does too, yet, he is like an Energy Bunny next to me. He brightens my day and I try to do that for him as well. We definitely miss or church family and when we get sad, we know that not being in church is part of our sadness. Tad is on furlough from his job, so I try to keep him busy; yet he does not receive the salary he was used to. We LOVE you all so very much. Tad and Melody
Sounds like a lovely way to be centering your spirits in this time. Love to you both!