Recovery

It is said that life is a series of peaks and valleys.  Writer Spencer Johnson takes this a step farther and speaks of plateaus, as well.

“Like a healthy heartbeat, your personal Peaks and Valleys are an essential part of a normal, healthy life. So are the Plateaus, if they are times of healthy rest when you take stock of what is happening and pause to think about what to do next. Peaks and Valleys are not just the good and bad times that happen to you. They are also how you feel inside and respond to outside events.”

I am on such a  plateau in life right now.  It’s a low one.

Nothing horrible is happening, but there have been many setbacks in life.

My spirit is not disheartened, exactly…but it’s tired. Exhausted.

In need of rest, both physical and mental. And emotional too, I suppose.

I cried last Sunday, which is very unlike me.  I haven’t decided yet if that is a good or a bad thing.

And so today I realized that I am in recovery.  Trying to find the new normal.

~ Recovering from family issues which have shaken everything I believed to be true.

~Recovering from my husband’s diagnosis, which changed everything about the present and greatly shapes the future.

~Recovering from the financial sting of said diagnosis.

Sting sounds so tiny, doesn’t it? Gun shot? Cannon ball?  The financial atomic bomb?

~Recovering from the loss of a life planned.

That one is a life-long recovery, I’ve learned. As my dad would say, “If you want to make God laugh tell Him your plans.”

~Recovering from a torn calf muscle, and grateful to be able to climb stairs without crawling again!

~Recovering from a wild sleepover this weekend. I don’t know how people with 6 kids do it!

~Recovering from a vomit-inducing Steelers loss to the Patriots last night.  I have no more polite words about that.

~Recovering from a very upsetting scene I witnessed yesterday afternoon, where I did not react and have been kicking myself for ever since.

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And I know that I’m not alone in my quest.  Many of those in my life are recovering right now as well.

~Friends are recovering from the sudden loss of their father/father-in-law.  Prayers for the Williams family would be much appreciated.

~A childhood friend continues to struggle with recovery from drug addiction.

~The developer of my neighborhood is recovering damages for the sign that the drunk driver took out.  I hear we might have a replacement this week.  I’m not holding my breath.

~Hopefully the drunk driver is recovering somewhere as well.

~Many of our newly-elected leaders are promising economic recovery.  Again, I’m not holding my breath.

Don’t panic – it’s just a joke.  When you Google ‘recovery’ images you mainly get computer screen shots and they don’t make me chuckle.  This did.  And no, I actually do not think that the next President will be able to fix this mess any more than I believe Obama will. Politics – the only area of life where I’m a cynic. An equal-opportunity cynic, thankyouverymuch.

~ It looks like the Pirates are considering recovery.  After 18 years of suck.  Good luck, very-appropriately-named Clint Hurdle.  We’ve made sure to keep the bar very low for you.

~And Demi Lovato is in recovery as well.  I’m saddened by how many young people in Hollywood go this route, and I blame their parents.  There, I’ve said it.  I blame the parents for not recognizing the dangers of a young, impressionable life lived under public scrutiny, and for not loving their children enough to know that sometimes it’s ok to say no.  Some dreams should wait.

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Are you in recovery today?  Do you have a need that I could help meet?  I’d love to hear from you.

“Courage consists in the power of self-recovery.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Today’s mission: Face the day with courage!

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” ~Jeremiah 29:11

The best of friends

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

~ 1 John 4:11

The Dynamic Duo

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!

~Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

Ouch!

I am in pain and distress; may your salvation, O God, protect me.

~Psalm 69: 29

Answered Prayer

“I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted what I asked of Him.”

~1 Samuel 1:27

Note to Self

Everything is permissible —but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible —but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.

~ 1 Corinthians 10:23-24

What a View

“Many peoples will come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob.’”

~ Isaiah 2:3

Patience

A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.

~ Proverbs 19:11

Rest Easy

When you lie down, you will not be afraid;
when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

~Proverbs 3:24

And so she dances

Let them praise His name with dancing, and make music to Him with tambourine and harp. ~Psalm 149:3