*Disclaimer, I love the snow.
The past few days the Portland Metro area literally shut down after receiving 6-12" of snow.
Drivers abandoned cars, other's slept in theirs. Stores started running out of bread. Schools shut down for days. Conveys of equipment & vehicles arrived from other city's to clear streets. It seemed that society's norms had come to an end. News channels ran live 24-7. One may have thought the world was ending. Things would never be the same.
It got me thinking about how we deal with interruptions in our lives. There seem to be a couple of different approaches one can take to an interruption like this. Or any interruption in our life.
It could be a job loss, illness, injury, break up, or anything else that disrupts our normal. It could really be any up-ending of our world. It's anything that disrupts the norm. Anything that changes the routine.
When I looked around, I saw two distinct responses to the snow: I love it and I'm making the most of it & go away, this is horrible, i have things to do, I have work to get to, places to go, etc.
I was reading this morning about adventuring in all that I do and how to live out each day as if an adventure that's guided by God and to simply be a participant in whatever the day brings...pretty different response than what I'm used to, what my normal is.
For me, it was a fall down a riverbank a few year ago resulting in a broken back, multiple surgeries and a long recovery. The event shook me up from the inside & disrupted my life in every imaginable way it could have. The event changed my heart and the direction of my life. Everything was new.
Today, I got to spend the time with some friends going through some very serious & challenging times in their life with an illness so sad and beyond understanding & comprehending. I get to watch them as they take each step, be strong for each other, grow & change. I will continue to be a part of this family as I have for more than 20 years. And by now, I'm accustomed to sitting around hospitals with them, just being, just listening. I know my place here.
No matter what happens in life, to us or around us, we have only one thing we get to choose and that is how we respond, how we react, grow and how we move forward.
Be it a snowstorm or a major life crisis, the choice is ours.
*photo credit: www.pdxpeople.com
