We made it through our first week of remote learning strict-style.

I'm exhausted. My kids are exhausted. I'm sure the parents are exhausted. But I think we squeezed in some learning…

Right now my head is a crazy swirl of jumbled thoughts, so I know it's time to get back to writing. For me, writing isn't just something that I do if I have a little extra time. For me, writing is the way I make sense of my world. The way I process the events occurring around me and happening to me. The way I order my chaos and bring focus back from the immediate and incidental onto the essential.

What is that essential?

God.
Friends and family.
Health and happiness.

Yes. I'd put work on that list too. Just not at the top, and not at the expense of the other three. A healthy life is all about balance. I learned that when I prepared for the first workshop I ever led: Balanced on the Rock. At the time I was working full time, teaching Sunday School, leading AWANA, and raising a child on my own. Life was crazy chaotic back then.

Kind of like today…

So many lessons that I've learned throughout my life have prepared me for today.

For example, the phrase God gave me to cling to in the MRI tubes is just as relevant during my remote teaching excursions: Be still and know that I am God.

Be still

stop rushing around
stop fidgeting and pacing
stop worrying and stressing
stop doing, planning, scheduling, trying, wishing
stop and sit a moment with a cup of tea

And know

experience
trust
understand
remember and be ultimately relieved

that I

not me
not Satan
not COVID
not the other political party
not my fears
not the common core

am God

the end all and be all
the alpha and omega
the reason for my existence
the sustainer of life
the Hope of an amazing tomorrow
the giver of an amazing right now

May you stay healthy and balanced this year, clinging to His promises and remembering the lessons He's taught you. Happy 2021!