By Melissa Carr
I posted this picture of my Facebook page yesterday because honestly… these times couldn’t be described much better around here. “I run a tight Shipwreck” My goodness doesn’t that seem so true right now?
We by no means have it all together here! Between trying to check in on others, work, and trying to comprehend what is going on in this world… whew. It’s a total shipwreck. My husband had to email a co-worker yesterday who doesn’t have kids and who lives in such a tiny place that he is keeping his social distancing by being the only one that goes to the office so he can work. My husband had to tell him that a project that was supposed to be done on Monday wouldn’t be done until Wednesday. The guy (in a nice way) said he didn’t understand. Mike had to explain to him that even though he usually works from home, he is generally the only one home. Now his wife is working from him, his almost 3-year-old is CRAZY and his older kids are all here most of the time as well. Life is nuts and just not possible to do what he usually does in the time that he usually does it until we get a new normal going. Have you been feeling this?
I make a to-do list and have this glorious plan on all the work I am going to get done, the quality time I am going to have with my family, Grant and I are going to do circle time and keep pressing forward on our numbers and letters and “learning by playing”, and I am going to have amazing dinners made, the house will be clean and on and on and on. Then the day goes on and my husband and I are wiped out by 9 (This is crazy early for us) and I lay in bed and ask myself—what in the world actually happened today. In fact, while I type this, I don’t know why I am sitting here typing this instead of cleaning up the aftermath of several days at home.
Grace.
We don’t know what we are doing. This is new for all of us. My brother and sister in law homeschool their boys by choice not because of this pandemic and their world is still quite shaken, schedules changed, life changed. We are all taking on such new things in life. I keep telling all of you and we keep saying to ourselves that we see the good in all of this. We do, this is 100% truth, but I need to give my family grace and maybe even more importantly I need to give myself grace during this time of the unknown.
We will probably figure all of this out and get into a good pattern or routine right as it’s all ending. And we will look back and say Whew! We did it! In the meantime, understand that we know so little, that God has the plan. He knows how this ends and He knows the path we are all taking. Know that He continually gives us grace and we need to extend that Grace to others, we need to go to bed feeling his grace for ourselves so that we can wake up the next morning doing the best we can, even if that best isn’t our normal.
Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice for us because we absolutely CAN NOT do it all. Lean on Him, Trust in him. Be slow to anger, slow to get frustrated, quick to love, quick to care.
It’s ok if life is a shipwreck. You are not alone! How can you show your family Grace? Ask yourself today how can you show yourself Grace and give yourself some self-Care today?