As I write this blog it is a perfect storm. The weather is terrible. It is cold again and raining…HARD. The late May days of warm sun are few and seemingly far between.
Here I am, just like so many of you, stuck at home doing my sequestered part to stop the spread of a virus that, despite any weather or national boundary, has changed the world.
There is a unique emotional and spiritual “exhaustion” which seeks to set in as I move between the rooms of our home. Zoom meetings with family members and friends, Zoom meetings in the cause of social distancing and to carry on by “working at home” are certainly great interventions. But there is a strange eroding of energy caused by such activity. It is more than odd. The only muscle activity is clicking the mouse or typing on the keys. But I find myself fighting the feeling of sleepy tired. How is that possible!? I have not been doing anything!!
I hear voices. Those voices encourage, “take a walk.” (Its raining too hard) “Jog in place. Start a new wood project. Fix something. Make a phone call. Text a friend. Sew a mask. Plan the first boat trip” …on and on it goes. But the fact of the matter is, I heard all those voices yesterday! I will likely hear them tomorrow, too. The only thing that will change is that I will be hearing those same voices in another room in the house.
To be more than certain, it is all good! I am comfortable. I am well – as is our family – and perhaps I am even giving God a good laugh, as they say, by making plans. I am so grateful that I can do all these things.
However, here is the truth. I am sequestered. The whole world has changed. The whole world is changing. There is no vaccine… yet. The treatments are just developing. Death lurks as a very real possibility and has been a reality for over 90,000 of our fellow citizens.
SO, WHAT IS THE POINT!! WHAT ARE WE TO DO IN THE MIDST OF THIS
EXHAUSTION?
In Disney’s sequel “Frozen II” to their blockbuster animated film, “Frozen” (no expense made on creative titles) there is reason to think it may have been produced with a pandemic in mind.
The theme of Frozen – the story of socially distanced family members traveling alone into the unknown while feeling lost in the process – touches the emotional and spiritual exhaustion of these non-animated, but very real days.
Anna, lost in the woods while desperately searching for her sister Elsa, is overcome with a great despair. She sings about it. Anna describes what she is feeling as the gravity of a great grief. Anna is in a dark place where she questions all that she once thought to be true. And worse, Anna is in a place where – as she sings – it is “clear that everything will never be the same again.”
Sounds familiar to the very real emotions we may be experiencing, don’t you think?
But Anna will not be defeated. She determines that she will continue to stumble toward the light. Even though it is not possible to look far ahead, she can take the next step, the next breath and she can resolve to “do the next right thing.”
While the music is contemporary, the lyrics reflect time-tested advice which is far more ancient than a beautiful song accompanying a fantasy quest from the Wonderful World of Disney. The Sixth Chapter of Matthew’s Gospel recording the words of Jesus regarding despair over ever-changing and lost things, as well as worry, is one place to check all this out.
When grief over what is lost or when we are lost in the midst of grief or when there appears to be no clear way out of the woods in which we may find ourselves, WE CAN DO THE NEXT RIGHT THING. When the challenges appear insurmountable in total, we can take a step at a time – no matter how small that step seems – we can DO THE NEXT RIGHT THING.
Even if the step we take only seems to lead us from one room in the house to another, we can take it…AND DO THE NEXT RIGHT THING!