What's In Your Silver Linings Playbook?
Good Wednesday morning!
I’m sitting here atop Mt. Grossness where it’s not even 10 a.m., but already feels like 95 degrees outside—and the temperatures are still climbing!
I so badly want to indulge in a day-long bitch, moan, and complain session—because I despise this cloying humidity, but who wants to read that rotting heap of negativity?
I created this tiny space of refuge from all the heaviness; therefore, I intend to keep that promise. Here is my Silver Linings Playbook for this week:
My kid accidentally flooded the laundry room this past Saturday afternoon. Good thing that his dad was home to help him clean up; AND, because I buy the detergent that’s “PACKED with aromatic essential oils,” the house still smells amazing!
This same young adult child still lacks gainful summer employment. Good thing that he loves to cook and volunteers to make family dinner multiple times per week! Also, bonus: He actually likes hanging out with his ‘rents!
I landed my next work contract, but it doesn’t start until August. Good thing that I have immediate availability to: 1). provide edits on a friend’s justification document for a promotion that she absolutely deserves; and 2). preview another friend’s upcoming publication, which is SO GOOD and SO NEEDED at this particular moment in time. (I cannot wait to share a link to it!)
Last night my spouse and I competed for the top prize in the Who Got the Least Amount of Sleep contest. Good thing there was leftover batter in the fridge. I treated the two of us to breakfast waffles served with the fruit crisp that I made last night—and topped off each serving with two different flavors of ice cream. (We choose to believe in the false promise of productivity powered by processed sugar and caffeine.)
It’s too hot to write this in my upstairs office. Good thing that I have a laptop. Now I’m sitting downstairs in the dining room where the AC works much better, and I can hear the birds singing outside.
It’s VBS time at my church this coming weekend; I love volunteering for this fun ministry. We partner with a sister church and kick things off on Friday night; resume on Saturday morning; and wrap up Sunday afternoon. There’s pizza, creative storytelling, fun games, even a trip to a city farm that supplies its neighbors with fresh, delicious produce—for free and/or at a reduced price for those in need. We use the wonderfully inclusive Just Like Me curriculum, and the whole experience is an unconditional lovefest, which is what VBS should be, right?
Okay, here’s a little poem of what’s on my mind:
It’s officially summer here
in all its evil heat and
oppressive humidity
I get how images of hell
are so effective
in controlling us.
The thought of being stuck
in weather like this
for all of eternity
effectively scared
kids like me
into sitting up straight
acting “right”
lest I incur God’s wrath.
I really want
hell to be real
an actual place
where all the
bad people
end up.
Like, really.
But I know that hell exists
in the here and now.
The child in me wants
to ask all the adults
why we withhold
heaven on earth
from so many.
Thanks for reading. I appreciate you. Stay as cool (in body-mind-soul) as possible out there! Remember to look for the joy, find the peace, cultivate the calm, appreciate the beauty. (It’s all there, even if it takes you a little bit longer today to find it.)
Would love to know how and where you are making heaven on earth possible these days. Please share in a comment.