Reading the title of this blog you?d think I had just returned from a luxurious cruise to some remote island where the sun always shines, it?s warmth radiating through me. Soaking those rays in, feeling the heat penetrate to my aching bones. Shining into my heart, warming and feeding my soul. Yes, you?d think I was back from a tropical paradise, where I?d been swimming with dolphins in the crystal clear water and sipping a cool drink with a funny little umbrella in it.
To be sure the above did not happen, not lately anyway. If anything, I am un-charged and not ready to go. I must admit I had trouble getting out of bed a few mornings ago. But I did. I picked myself right up by the coattail and hauled my big butt out of that warm, soft bed.
I need sunshine! Cabin fever? check. Vitamin D malnourished? check. The list goes on and on, it?s been a long winter! Not to mention mentally bummed out as I watch a loved one suffer from a debilitating disease.
I can honestly say that I have never been bored, very seldom do I get down in the dumps, but right now I have a great need to get away, to jump into the old Ford Explorer and set out into the great un-known. To simple drive and end up wherever our hearts desire leads us. My husband is feeling this confinement also. He works too hard and longs for a few days or weeks away from the wheeling and dealing of being a busy junk man.
I love being at home, but sometimes the walls kind of close in on me. I long for warmer days when I can get outside and dig my fingers into the rich smelling earth. To walk the old path down to the springhouse where my great-grandmother planted Easter flowers a hundred years ago. To flip over a creek rock and find a crawfish, to see the world come alive, sprouting new growth and bringing flavor and color back to my life. I long to visit my little spot on The New River. To sit by the camp fire and watch the new moon rise over the flowing waters. I can close my eyes and see it now.
As February propels toward March, then March to April I?ll continue to pull myself up and out of bed every morning and hop to it, ?it? meaning life. No matter the hardships or the happiness that each day brings you, the choice to make the best of it is ours. The other morning as I lay there in bed I had to reach way down inside myself and conjure up good thoughts, to think of things that would make me happy that day. Guess what was first on my list? Yes, writing.
Some days I never know what I?ll scribble about until I sit down at my computer. Then other times I have a story that can?t wait to be spun.? By the time my coffee is brewing in the microwave a dozen stories are spinning in my head and the soft confines of my queen-sized bed are all but forgotten.
A long winter can really bring us down. Sickness, and lack of sunshine can shroud us in a dark cloak of despair. As we suffer through the long days and nights we can?t help but feel the pain of others, the ones who cannot pick themselves up and get out of bed for the day. Sometimes it?s easy to see nothing but the gray of a winter?s day, but then there?s that flash of color as a Red Bird flies in and perches on a tree branch, or a solitary Yellow Finch who is weathering the cold flutters by. Then there comes a feisty Blue Bird? watch out! My favorite kitty Nanner is crouching nearby. As I experience the unfolding of a new day, I know that I am truly blessed beyond measure. I feel the joys of my life rise up in me so high that I have to jump up and down to jiggle the blessings toward my feet, so as to make room for more.
Though the moments may seem long and our efforts tiresome, I think of this scripture:
In all labour there is profit? Proverbs 14:23
On dreary days when we are feeling pretty low, just remember that tomorrow is a new day. Our efforts for the day may go un-noticed and seem useless, but we never know what seed we are planting. Profit is not always earned in money. A kind word here or a written word there may touch or influence someone?s life more than can be imagined. So no matter what you?re going through? pick yourself up and get at it! Take a walk outside; look for those flashes of color. Even Jesus had to go off by himself at times, to get away and re-charge. Maybe you can?t go to the mountaintop but there?s a spot out there for all of us. You?ve just got to get up, and get out there and look for it. The mountain won?t come to you!
