Bending with the wind

“Human relationships are primary in all of living. When the gusty winds blow and shake our lives, if we know that people care about us, we may bend with the wind but we won’t break” – Fred Rogers

In the short weeks since I last posted, a new storm has passed through our already difficult year. Less than a week after receiving the devastating news that Eliza would need to undergo a surgery that terrifies me still, Derrick’s dad passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. We were already working so hard to keep our heads above water, and I worried that this latest blow would drown us for sure. It seemed like it was all too much. I have had a lump in my throat for weeks now and constantly feel on the verge of tears. And sometimes I am so dang tired that all I want to do is sleep for a week.

But hard times are strange in that they carry with them gifts of awareness and perspective and gratitude. They open our eyes to all the helpers and force us to have faith that what seems lost may actually be alive and well, waiting for the season to change. I need the change of that season….need it desperately. But on a walk this weekend, I stopped and stood in awe of the green buds emerging from all the trees in our neighborhood. It was a welcome sign of spring and a beautiful reminder that the trees, which look dead and dormant for all of winter, still have life. It is always there, waiting to burst forth with the brightest greens and most fragrant flowers of the entire year.

These days (and weeks and months) have been hard, but I am choosing to trust that the season will soon change for us too…praying that new buds of faith and hope will arrive, stronger and more beautiful than before. And I believe they will! But in the meantime, I am thankful to have so many people willing to brave the gusty winds with us. And what’s more, willing to carry us through them.