Hello Hatters,
Today is another marker. It is eight months since Country Hubby left this world. I’m thankful to be busy with family, friends, and work initiatives. Today, I led a group of people on Zoom through a personal core values exercise and I re-did mine, also. I had done this activity in 2019. So much has changed, that it is no surprise that my focus has shifted. I am still the same person with those values that I identified in 2019, but different values seemed clearer and more relevant to my existing path. I might write about those things later. Today marks eight months of living alone, and I could have accepted the looming rattle in my soul. I could have felt sad or pitiful about the ach in my heart. I don’t even like sound of the word “rattled.” I envision my heart or my mind being taken out of my body and shaken up. So, I have to remind myself to whom I belong; I am a child of the Most-High God.
I wanted to reach out to anyone else who might be rattled by personal events or worried over the world’s current state. No doubt, our lives are certainly different than ever before, and it’s changing by the day. The one constant in our world is a God who loves and who is above all circumstances. I count on that truth daily. Unfortunately, there is another constant and that is that there’s an adversary who wants us to focus on the bad, the ugly, the sadness, the harsh spoken words, the isolation, or any other difficulty in which we might find ourselves. The mission of the enemy is to kill, steal, and destroy. I know how the story ends, though. The adversary loses; indeed, the battle’s already lost.
So, we need to remember that we are not alone. We are cherished by God. We need to pray and lift up our concerns to Him and read some Scriptures. There is nothing like a good chapter in the Psalms to soothe the soul. As a matter of fact, I am facilitating a ladies Bible study on Psalms 23, The Shepherd’s Psalm. In the last couple of sessions, I was sharing my thoughts on being in the valley of the shadow of death. Mind you, I’m no fan of that location, and I didn’t think I could focus on it very well. But God had a different plan for me. He led me from Revelation back to Genesis and then to several books in between.
I often look up common words in a dictionary to get different perspective of the word. The word shadow had a most excellent point for the Shepherd’s Psalm. You see, there can’t be a shadow without a light. God is light and I’m reminded even when I feel like it is the darkest, He is with me, even in the valley of the shadow of death. I’ve walked that road too many times with loved ones. Most recently, I traveled that path with Country Hubby. There’s something about grief that digs up regrets and the thoughts of what if, or if only. Regrets are dark and unless you can glean some wisdom from those old experiences, they are better off left in the past. I have been reminded that I did the best I could with the knowledge and abilities I had at the time. No one can change the past anyway, so I’m better off thinking of the light. The Light of God never left; sometime I am distant from Him. My human frailties get me off track and into darkness, but I’m getting better at recognizing the tricks of the enemy. We all have to guard our minds and hearts.
One more thing I have to say about being rattled. Many times, I am having a conversation with myself about whatever is happening, and I’m none too kind to myself. Sometimes, I create my own rattled state of mind. Negative self-talk has no place in the bright life of a child of God. As a writer who wears many hats just like you, I’m reminded to leave the rattles to little babies; they are just learning to grasp toys. Even as adults, we never stop learning. I long to stay in the light, avoid getting myself rattled, and even ask for help. It is one of the hardest things to do, ask for help. I’m learning. I’m grasping tools and healthy emotions for this new life. No matter our paths, our hardships, let’s recognize the light of God and keep going, even on hard days, like eight months since……… well, you know. Tomorrow it is eight months and one day since….. well, you know. I could go on and on.
The light of God holds me and you, plus all of our tomorrows.
MT Penny