The darker the season, the
smaller the act required to bring healing. What are the small acts of
connection and tenderness that you've experienced in this season?
Winter seemed to be longer this
year. The end of the last and beginning of this year was covered in sickness
and working on healing.
For a few intermittent weeks I
was down and out; hardly eating or able to move and laying in bed while Ricardo
took care of the children and house work; his new managers full of
understanding and compassion, as he took a week off after changing positions at
work. My mom graciously came over and took time off work, after caring for my
grandma for a month, to wrangle the children and do my laundry and scrub the
floors and make my kitchen sparkle, along with my step dad. My mother in law
came and hung out with Penny and Jude and Ryland, and my aunt took another day.
It was a reminder of the blessing of living in
proximity to family and the continual process of letting go and allowing others
help, while I rested and healed.
It takes a village to heal. It
takes people coming over to help do what we cannot, like fixing superfluous
amounts of snacks for the children and make meals and fully watch to ensure no
one floods the sink with bubbles and to encourage us to really get some rest and dig our feet in to the healing process
because otherwise, we may throw in the towel and move on, only prolonging the
healing all together.
As I laid in bed one evening, as
Ricardo finished reading bedtime stories and grabbed the mail, he placed a
colorful envelope next to me. Familiar hand writing printed across the front and
a beautiful message scrolled inside. My friend, Julie, is the craftiest person
I know. She can make something beautiful out of practically nothing and is just
as sweet as she is crafty and has a way of sending it packaged perfectly in an envelope,
with just the right amount of encouragement. With the pretty card and pink and
yellow banner of the word SHINE tucked inside next me, it was a much needed
reminder to keep going and not get caught up in the down and out and all the
help that was being freely given but to focus on the healing and to be grateful
for what is to come.
And thankful for the ability to let
go and humble myself to accept help, even when I would have loved to do it
myself.
Here's to help and healing.
____________________________________________________
This is part of a 365 day blogging series through Savor by Shauna Niequist. If you would like to blog along, whether daily or weekly, I would love to have you for the journey; be sure to link back to the post. And if you are not a blogger, you can join along, too. Just leave your response and answers in the comments.