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Do you feel overwhelmed? Moving the wood
I was talking with a young woman who was going through a divorce. She was out of the marital home for over a year. Before she left there was a large load of cord wood dropped in their yard. When she returned, it was still there. Untouched.
Originally it seemed to be an overwhelming job that needed to be done. Then she started a few minutes each day. Pray for strength and just do a little every day.
She told me she had an insight while she was moving that wood. She loaded one wheelbarrow full at a time. It was a huge pile when she first looked at it. With working a full time job, taking care of her family and keeping the house, she didn’t have much time to do it. But little by little, for a short time each day she moved some. It got easier as she gained more physical strength, and she was encouraged by seeing some progress. The pile got smaller and smaller, and then it was gone. There was a neatly stacked woodpile over where it belonged. There was no grass where the wood had been.
She told me that she felt this exercise was a great metaphor for what she is going through in her life. What needs to be done seems overwhelming, almost impossible to accomplish. She doesn’t have the time or the strength to do it all at once. But praying for strength and doing a little at a time she is making changes and growing stronger in more ways than one. She is dealing with what needs to be done a “wheelbarrow full” at a time. And she is beginning to see the difference - in her strength, her faith, and her life.
She had to rake up the debris. And the sun and the rain nurtured the hidden seeds of the grass that used to be there, and it’s growing, making a change in her yard. Where there once was a heavy load, now there is new life.
Sometimes it’s like that in our lives. If we pray and trust that God is with us, preparing us and giving us strength, we can take the next step. And then the next. Some miracles may happen in a moment. And I think some miracles take time.
There are hidden seeds of faith and strength in each of us that want to grow, that want us to grow. All the time. No matter what’s happening. There are whispers to keep us going - to grow. You may hear many voices with differing opinions. You have choices. I invite you to pray, to ask and then to be quiet and listen.
Listen to the voice of that angel … “Grow, grow!”
By the way, where can you be an angel for another?
There is not a single herb but has a mazal in the heavens which strikes it and says, “Grow!” Midrash Rabba, Bereshit 10:6
“Hits it?” Ouch!
And yet….sometimes that seems closer to the truth. Either way, the exhortation is: “Grow!”
Lenten Reflection: https://lynndurham.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Booklet-the-Way-of-the-Cross-and-Resurrection.pdf
Lynn Durham, RN author of From Frazzled To Fantastic! You’re One Thought Away From Feeling Better www.lynndurham.com smile@lynndurham.com 603-926-9700
Lynn Schwartz Durham is a mother of three sons and a well-being coach living in New Hampshire, USA. Since her childhood days in Lordship, Connecticut where she held “health camp” at the beach, Lynn has been interested in helping others feel better.
A UConn graduate and registered nurse, Lynn has taught nursing, “Women’s Wellness” and “Spirituality and Health.” Lynn speaks, facilitates retreats, and writes - all focused on well-being …for those who want to release anger, anxiety and anguish … for those who want to embrace, cherish and celebrate life!
Lynn has published over 100 articles and columns, is a contributing author to several books, has an audio book called Dancing Gracefully with Life and is the author of From Frazzled to Fantastic! You’re One Thought Away From Feeling Better,
For many years Lynn was a member of the National Speakers Association, the National Wellness Association and the American Association of Therapeutic Humor. She has studied at the Harvard Deaconess Mind Body Medical Institute in Boston where a fellow participant called her a glass of Prozac!
Lynn is also a NH Real Estate Broker in the lakes and mountains area, a grandmother, an artist, dancer and bridge player.
Through contact with Lynn on TV, radio or in person, people change the way they see their world. Whether we find her with a flower in her hat, or spinach in her teeth, Lynn brings her sense of Joy in the Journey wherever she goes.
