for unfixable things and plans that change
You know those days? The ones where you think things will go a certain way, and you plan accordingly, and then everything changes with one phone call, or chance encounter or something. Sometimes the plan changes to a horrible nightmare....sometimes to a surprise blessing.....but change is always stressful. Research tells us that we need some stress in our lives to be healthy. Change is good for us as well. Maybe the point of my thoughts today is what direction that change and stress take us.
If the level of stress remains too high, health suffers. Relationships suffer. We suffer. If change happens over and over and over without some pause and sense of routine and predictability, we feel unsafe and chaotic. There needs to be time and space to balance all of it. I took that time last week, thank goodness, before the craziness of this week started. It is the last week of school for most of my kids and that is both a good change and stressful. Semester exams, projects, sad goodbyes for favorite teachers, late night baseball with little kids who should be in bed......
Today something happened that changed my plan for my work day. I adjusted my plan and was able to manage the stress until this one moment, where I really saw the person I was with and really felt the weight of their.......burden. It seemed insurmountable. Unfair. Unexplainable and inexcusable....and I am a nurse and I like to fix things and heal things and this thing....this thing is unfixable. I felt a sense of helplessness and despair at the depravity of our world. Why? Why so much hurt and injustice? Why so much sorrow and adversity? My Spirit was crying "Holy spirit, come" while I sat in my place, doing my job. Jesus cannot return soon enough for me.
Holy Spirit did come and gave me an idea or two....and some words.....and I was able to move past that moment of social depravity and helplessness.....and with a request or two, was able to start a help and a blessing that won't fix things, but will put a few band-aids on some hurts.
It is good to know our own barometer of how much we can handle in terms of stress and change. It is good to know which self care tools are available and reliable to help us get regulated again.....and at the end of the day, it is still a good idea to make a plan and to know it may change and ultimately to care more about people than the plan.
If the level of stress remains too high, health suffers. Relationships suffer. We suffer. If change happens over and over and over without some pause and sense of routine and predictability, we feel unsafe and chaotic. There needs to be time and space to balance all of it. I took that time last week, thank goodness, before the craziness of this week started. It is the last week of school for most of my kids and that is both a good change and stressful. Semester exams, projects, sad goodbyes for favorite teachers, late night baseball with little kids who should be in bed......
Today something happened that changed my plan for my work day. I adjusted my plan and was able to manage the stress until this one moment, where I really saw the person I was with and really felt the weight of their.......burden. It seemed insurmountable. Unfair. Unexplainable and inexcusable....and I am a nurse and I like to fix things and heal things and this thing....this thing is unfixable. I felt a sense of helplessness and despair at the depravity of our world. Why? Why so much hurt and injustice? Why so much sorrow and adversity? My Spirit was crying "Holy spirit, come" while I sat in my place, doing my job. Jesus cannot return soon enough for me.
Holy Spirit did come and gave me an idea or two....and some words.....and I was able to move past that moment of social depravity and helplessness.....and with a request or two, was able to start a help and a blessing that won't fix things, but will put a few band-aids on some hurts.
It is good to know our own barometer of how much we can handle in terms of stress and change. It is good to know which self care tools are available and reliable to help us get regulated again.....and at the end of the day, it is still a good idea to make a plan and to know it may change and ultimately to care more about people than the plan.
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