A Day in the Life

I’m working on the next section of Mr. Reno’s piece from Monday, but it’s taking me a moment on account of how I didn’t wake up at the crack of dawn but slept in till 7. Not that I would have known it was dawn because of the heavy cloud cover blanketing this sometimes-sunny town. So, because it’s like 9:30 and I’m pretty sure I should go wake up some kids or something, I thought it would be fun, having written out not exactly an average day a while ago, but one that was representative of how stretched and stressed I am overall, to do a coronavirus day. Won’t take as long, trust me.

So here is a day before coronavirus:

4:30 take thyroid pill (self-care)

5:00 bible/prayer (self-care)

5:40 weights/bath (don’t be fooled by weights, it’s basically totally lame) (self-care)

6:00 blog (ok, maybe wasted time)

7:15 edit book (oh my word, I can’t believe it’s taking so long)

7:45 coffee downtown (self-care, friend-care)

9:00 bible study at church (we all go, family-care)

10:30 school (go ahead, ask me how school is going for the year)

12:30 lunch (Matt cooked it the day before, because we barely have time to cook)

1:30 clean (had to, because of what comes next)

2:00 meeting (at my house)

3:45 another meeting (on the phone, go ahead, ask me how well I was able to concentrate)

5:00 haul the girls to dance/edit book (across town, of course)

8:00 evening reading/school progress check-in

9:00 bed

And here is yesterday:

5:00 half wake up and think, Oh Heck No

7:00 wake up slightly more and take thyroid pill

8:00 stagger out of bed and concoct mean blog

9:00 sit in front of computer and argue with Matt about the pros and cons of bathing

9:30 climb in bath

10:00 wander around bedroom wondering about clothes

11:00 start “school”

1:00 break for lunch

2:00 put in a load of laundry, sit on couch

3:00 remote google hangouts meeting where I keep falling out because the internet is bad

4:30 continue sitting on couch but think about doing “work,” wonder what that even is

5:00 still sitting on couch, but actually doing some editing

7:00 still sitting on couch, start watching super funny YouTube clips

9:00 bed

Part of the extreme lethargy is that the quarter ended on Monday and I was up late with beleaguered children who never can seem to learn that if you do the hard work as you go along, you don’t have to die trying to get it all in on the last day. But that is a hard lesson no matter what–just ask all the governments of the world.

Anyway, I am toiling through my wretched book. And honestly, I’ve noticed two things. One, I was pretty depressed when I wrote it, and Two, the Bible itself is pretty repetitive. But this one seemed ok, and I thought I’d share it with you. Hopefully, by the end of 2020, you’ll get to have a real copy in your hands once more. Enjoy!

292. A Voice From Heaven

And the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” Luke 3:22

It’s nice sometimes, to hear the person who you know loves you say it publicly, so that other people can know about it too. I never like saying out loud to anyone how I really feel about them because I’m afraid of being needy and losing a sense, usually imagined, of power over myself. If I confess that I love someone, I’ve given them the power to hurt me or ruin that confession.

So for centuries and centuries, God kept saying to Israel, “I love you.” He said it boldly, loudly and sometimes it made him sound needy and desperate. Israel looked back and God and said, “Meh,” and sometimes, “I know,” and when things got really bad, “No Thank You.” And it was heartbreaking, and awful. Loving someone who doesn’t love you—a spouse, a child, a friend—it is a black place to be. And it’s amazing that God endured it for so long.

So Jesus comes out of the water and God the Father announces loudly to everyone, “I love you.” And the earth gives a shuddering embarrassed groan and turns away. But Jesus expands and fills his lungs with joy and steps out of the water to begin a long and tragic journey of perfect love lived out in perfect obedience. And this is also pretty amazing.