Dirty Shirts!

These past months of Covid-19 have given me an opportunity to get some work clothes filthy dirty...really filthy dirty!  My husband is no longer able to clean or organize his workshop so a wonderful friend, who loves to organize, has been my right hand helper!  It took us a month to clean the front "gymnasium-sized" room, now we are tackling the back room, nearly as large.  Only a smaller one is left to do.

Well, I have never been so excited to get out there and get dirty.  We shuffle stuff, haul stuff down from the rafters, I cut cardboard on the jig saw and cut old wood on the chop saw!  I get so excited to see the progress. Sometimes I go out in the shop later in the day just to marvel at how organized it is getting! It's a space that is becoming very inviting.

I don't know what this has to do with anything except looking back over this past year I can see where my anxious insides were compared to now and organizing the workshop was a big deal on my mind and the thought of how to do it rattled my coping. I couldn't just leave it for the future because I still didn't know how I'd deal with it. 

There's an awareness that has come. When  I simply ask, "do you know someone who..." like putting up ceiling tile, or cutting walnut logs into 1" boards for later use.  Resources are there, I just don't have to be the main "information operator" for all the details. It's not necessary to accept the first "I don't know" that comes along...someone knows somewhere.  

That goes for not only physical concerns like ceiling tile, organizing or logs but for spiritual and emotional concerns. Having someone to process inner situations is just as important, and rewarding, as it is to find resources for physical items those inner areas could be grief, relationships with self, God or others, beliefs, loss of faith/hope, etc. etc. 

So, tomorrow I can't wait to get up and put a clean work shirt on because I will be ripping two long 2x2 boards in order to make some lengths to make a frame for pegboard. The organizing continues and it thrills me to no end to have someone at my side who keeps me going when I feel overwhelmed and want to run away. My dirty shirts give me hope!  I know the progress that happens; tomorrow I will have a clean one on!  AAahhhhhh!!!  What do your "dirty shirts" do for your spirit?

Wait

I wonder if anyone has missed my posts lately, wondering if I dropped off the face of the earth!  Truth of the matter is that I locked myself out of Facebook and was waiting for a reply from them in my attempt to get back in.  My computer guru who has been helping me said, "it might be awhile."  So, wait I did.  Have you ever been in a similar situation when life threw you a curveball? What a question nowadays, huh!?

Courtesy of Google

It gave me  another opportunity to take stock of the Serenity Prayer: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change..."  But oh, so difficult, when so much is out of our control.  Another situation occurred this week also that I needed to accept...well, quite a few, but details sure don't matter.  I'm probably not alone!

How do you get through times when you must accept those things that can't be changed?  With this virus and wearing mask issue I was so upset yesterday I called a friend and "cranked" to her...which led to a few laughs at the same time!  That helped change my "cranky" channel. Talking with a friend who is helping me make a couple of chairs helped, too.  This conversation actually made the original concern much better.  It was a good thing I went and talked with him. 

So, sometimes our situations become huge boogy men in our mind but with some conversation with others and a willingness to see a different perspective, things usually work out as good or better than before.  Have you ever experienced this?  

I'm glad for those of you who continue reading my posts, and especially when you share them.  With so many businesses challenged during this pandemic I am so glad to reach a wider audience to offer spiritual direction. 

It excites me to meet new clients from a broader area, and you sharing these posts helps tremendously.  Thank you to each and every one of you who not only read these posts but who have given me wonderful feedback and encouragement.  It's a two-way street of benefit!   And thanks again for passing them along! You can't know the individuals who have shared with me how spiritual direction has been such a blessing to them.  

Excitement fills me for you to read this post, but I will continue to wait until I can get it on Facebook!  "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change..."