After months of craziness and things not going my way, yesterday while walking down the hill through the part on my way home from town, I paused and actually noticed the blue sky and green grass. Astonishingly, things didn’t seem quite so bad after that.
It’s not a brilliant photo, but it’s the best I could get with my phone and my notoriously unsteady hand.
All my life, Lent has been a time when I’ve paused to stop and examine my life. Although we’re only three days into Lent, the importance of taking this time has impacted me already. For the last couple months I’ve been running from one task to the next, trying to cope with health issues, the stress of the restructuring going on at Hubby’s college, and unhappy news from across the pond.
I’ve known for some time that the day would come when I wouldn’t be able to make it to the funerals of those dear to me. This week that day arrived. I can’t afford the time or expense to fly one third of the way around the globe right now, but I wish I could. I’d been hoping to spend time visiting with my Great Aunt Carol this summer when we are heading to the US for a month to attend my sister’s wedding and visit family and friends.
Thankfully, telling my son what happened went much more smoothly than expected. He has an embroidered baby blanket that my Great Aunt and Grandmother made for him shortly after he was born and although he was only four years old the last time we saw them, he remembers them.
He understood right away that it was okay to be happy for his Super Great Aunt Carol rather than sad, because she doesn’t need the wheelchair, that she’d been confined to since a car accident years ago, anymore. In fact he reminded me that we can still talk to her if we wish by means of his invisible telephone that let’s you talk to people in heaven.
His simple acceptance and understanding helped me to change my perception and find some peace away from the loss and frustration that had engulfed me. This Lent I seek to allow my perception of the world and my experiences in it to be open to change.
What do you wish you could change about your perception of life?
It’s far too late for me to think of a reply to your question, but I’m sorry to read of your troubles. Just taking the time out to be mindful of our surroundings really does help, but we don’t do it enough do we? And I love the way the young see death differently than us. -HMx
A Humdrum Mum’s latest blog: Help my wish came true (no it’s not "Please change the Frubes ad")