Let your light shine

This Easter week has been a little battle in my head mixed with emotions of fear, anxiety, sadness, worry, hope, joy, and peace all wrapped up in one! I can't even imagine what Jesus was going through the week before His death and resurrection! Can any of us? I bet not!
None of us know what the other is dealing with internally! This whole experience is so unsettling, not a single one of us could have been prepared for what it has done to us, our family, our friends, our sanity! The every day changing rules on social distancing, what is acceptable, what isn't, what is essential and what is not! Missing our families, our social activities and our well-known routine lives! What an absolute disruption in what we put our trust in day to day! The people on a daily basis finding themselves unemployed, pay checks cut, or those that are working twice as hard as essential workers- those who are not "staying home" because they are needed. Those people are risking their lives and the lives of their loved ones everyday trying to stay employed but needed for the rest of us to continue living!
 If you just remember to do the best you can, take one minute, one day and one week at a time, some days may be better than others, some days you may get so much accomplished and have the best possible positive attitude for the future and some days you may just want to watch t.v., eat, drink and cry and plain feel blah and exhausted even mentally! But just don't make the latter your routine!
You do have control of how you act and react, and being positive actually takes less energy and trains your mind to be healthier and happier. Being stressed, depressed and judgmental can statistically cause your immune system to weaken and you be more likely to become sick! So even though we all deserve an occasional pity party we can control how long that lasts and what we need to do to snap out of it and move on!

I notice from social media lot of us are sitting at home complaining about our situation, being bored, not being able to go anywhere, teaching our own kids, eating and drinking too much and being annoyed by our spouse or children! Some of the posts on FB I see I hope are just in true fun and to be funny and make light of the situation. But I know deep down that some people are feeling this way, some feel burdened, some feel overwhelmed, some feel depressed and anxious. Is any of this wrong! No way! But it may just train us to be more appreciative of those we previously took advantage of.
As many different individual personalities that are out their, there are individual reactions!
All day long you can say how someone should respond, feel or cope with what they are being faced with. But the reality is everyone wears different shoes, everyone is different that is the way God made us! What a boring world if we all thought, acted and reacted the same!
Have Grace for everyone around you, just as God has Grace for you! Be kind, be forgiving and stop judging others or assuming they have ill intentions or shouldn't act or react the way they are... because guess what they are NOT you! Be supportive, encouraging, loving and humble.
All the commercials saying we are #allinthistogether although starting to seem all little over the top to me sometimes... the saying holds true! This is happening Globally, definitely differently to everyone out there, but to everyone nonetheless.
I may not be able to choose my circumstances right now, or control them, however, I choose to enjoy my family, because when else in my lifetime will I have such an opportunity to spend so much time with them and not be rushing from one thing to the next. I choose to enjoy the quiet and focus on how I can help others. I choose to be still and silent and frame my mindset. I choose to take advantage of working on all the projects I always say I never have time to do. I choose to reach out to as many people as I can, connect to those I haven't in awhile because of my lack of time and brighten their day, you never know when that random happy thought can really change someone else's day for the better or is needed at that exact moment. I can choose to make the most of the situation I am in and help it to teach me to grow, slow down and appreciate the little things we sometimes pass by on our way to all the things that make us busy. I can control if I am exercising, what I am eating and drinking and how I behave! Sometimes the eating and drinking desirable things is definitely comforting... but long term I will not be happy with the outcome, so moderation is what I need to practice right now for my best possible outcome!
What is one thing you can do this week to brighten someone else's day? Think about it and act upon it! You never know who may need what you have to offer.

"Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, lead me in the way everlasting" (Psalm 139:23-24)