The crevices of my bones are tired. My spirit is weary. It’s not the kind of tired a good night’s sleep will fix. I could sleep a week, I’d still feel this heavy, laden cloak of exhaustion. Like the kind the dentist lays across your chest when they take an x-ray and you struggle to inch beneath it. Sometimes, I’m so exhausted, I can’t even find sleep. I chase it around my head, forcing my eyes to close. Only to have them pop back open a few moments later, grabbing my phone to pass the time, and hoping the scrolling will induce slumber. Sometimes, it does. Most of the time, it doesn’t.
This level of tired comes from the daily pecking, peeling, away of all the good things that once were. The news…peck…The politics….peck…arguments over masks and vaccines…peck, peck…The loss of community from working from home…peck…The isolation from quarantine…peck…Covid…. peck…
It’s doing much more than stealing our happiness. It’s stealing pieces of our humanity. It’s creating a further divide where people are arguing over who deserves care and who doesn’t….Let that sink in just for a few minutes. Where is the empathy, compassion? That behavior, that thought process, doesn’t stay in that one bucket, that one specific topic. It moves and spreads across your daily interactions. It’s now an “us versus them” conversation…. An, “I’m going to get mine.” society… The covid battles are what is wearing us out. The constant bickering, fighting, entitlement. ….peck, peck, peck.
I have to believe the whole world is tired. I just do. Because it keeps showing up in the behavior of strangers. Like little toddlers that have gone far beyond their nap time and are now in a total melt down mode because someone won’t let them lick the wall, or drink from the dog’s bowl… or some other random thing that toddlers do. Like the guy who followed my young adult son home shouting “You don’t know who you are messing with” from the end of my driveway because he was unable to pass him on a short stretch of road into the neighborhood where the speed limit is 25mph…. Or the lady at Aldi that wanted to literally throw down because I said “excuse me” before she was ready to move. (This is real life, folks.)
I have to believe that people who are well, who are happy, and rested, do not act this way. People who are bone-tired from Covid act out like this.
I’m not one who likes to look in the rearview mirror often. I like to move in a forward direction…but damn, how do we get back to pre-covid? It wasn’t perfect…but it wasn’t …this.
When I was writing this message, I stumbled upon a blog post I wrote in the early days of Covid. I had so much hope then…and it’s a little sad for me to read it now. But because I don’t have any other words of inspiration to offer to re-right this ship, I’ll share that post with you now…Maybe we can all cling to a little sliver and pull ourselves out of the darkness.
Rewind to March 21,2020:
Sometimes I dabble in writing . I honestly don’t pick the topics. They roll around on my heart and stay on repeat in my mind until the only way I can get them out is to put them on paper. That is the case with the writing below. I am not a super Christian, nor do I play one on t.v.. Please be kind when you read the message below and if this is not your thing, cool.
The world is a crazy place right now. Legit, crazy. We are living in unprecedented times. No one really knows what they are doing… In a matter of just a few weeks, we’ve seen huge layoffs, school closures and a shortage of toilet paper. If you would have told me at the start of 2020 that a virus would shut down the world, I would have thought that was an impossibility. Yet here we are in the middle of a pandemic, and the Corona Virus is doing just that – shutting down the world.
It’s a scary time, no doubt. Worry and anxiety are at its peak. (At least it feels like it is at its peak – but let the chicken nuggets run out at the grocery and I’m at a whole new level of crazy!)
To deal with it all, I find myself diving deeper into prayer, into scripture, into places that I can latch on to other Christians to find hope before the curtain of darkness (which feels all to close) falls around us.
In my quest, I landed on a video where our church worship leader said something that just resonated deep within me. He said something to the effect of “We are all social distancing to keep the virus at bay. But social distancing is just unhuman.” Wow.
Wayyyyy back in Genesis 2:18 it is written
““It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him” (NIV).
We were not meant to be alone. Men, certainly were not meant to be alone. (I kid, I kid…maybe)
Could it be then that this virus is a spiritual attack meant to divide our relationships? To cause distance between “them” and “us”? I’m not disputing that this is a REAL virus. I’m saying, could there be more to it? If you believe in scripture, this is not to much of a stretch.
So what do we do? How can we prevent the darkness from taking hold, from gaining ground?
- Dive deep into your Bible. Spend time with the Lord. Let him lead you; calm you. My prayer is that you hear his voice. There are so many resources out there if you are not a reader or find the Bible difficult to navigate. (I was there too – a good study Bible is everything!) I love watching Joyce Meyer, or Pastor TD Jakes. Find something that brings you closer to God. Pray on your walks around your neighborhood. Look for his beauty – and you will find it. Those are some of my sweetest moments….when I’m just walking outside, and God sends a special moment or ah-ha thought. Try it.
- Be kind. Look for ways to help others. Don’t allow ‘me versus them’ mentality to take root. During a crisis, we will see the worst and the best of humanity. Be part of the latter. If you have a few extra bucks, donate to a blessing box or food pantry. Offer to pick up groceries for someone who is high risk. Protect yourself but do what you can.
- Spend time with your family and friends. The ones that live in your house. Call or face time the people who don’t! Stay connected!
My grand-precious and I have a routine that she calls “relaxing”. It’s where I decide I’ve had enough of the day and of my crazy family – and I go upstairs to the quiet of my room. I turn on the tv and scroll through social media, but essentially all my mom, work, and wife duties are over. I’ve clocked out. At some point during her five years on the planet, she has decided that she should join me in “relaxing”. This means that I’m not officially off the clock, but it does provide one-on-one time with my girl, and that is not lost on me.
Last night I said, “I think I’m going upstairs.” Her green eyes widened, and she said “I want to go with you! To relax! I can relax with you!”
Before long she was snuggled under the covers on her Popa’s side of the bed. She loves to learn (a child after my own heart), and we buy her these big learning books. She already sailed through the K5 book so we are onto the first grade book. This makes her sit up a little taller, as she says, “I can do first grade, Gigi!”. She has her blue crayon in her right hand, and she is giving it her all. Sounding out the letters “kkk aaa ttt …Cat!” and learning new words. At some point, ten-ish minutes in or so, she says
“I looove you Gigi”.
That’s it. That’s all it took to fill up my heart and wash away the day. We are created for relationship.
We need it. I need it. Baby girl needs it. Hold on to your people and to God during this crazy time.
Xoxo,
Lady Chatsalot
Chats A Lot 
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