We don’t always choose the healthy approach and response to what’s happening around and within us. We need to absorb what’s happening so we can deal with it well. But just as avoidance isn’t helpful, neither is taking it all in without filtering and sorting in the moment and into the future.
Sometimes we can’t deal with it right away. We don’t understand. Our shock, hurt, anger, or grief seems to cover us—and not in a comforting way. And sometimes we aren’t willing to acknowledge the truth of what’s happening. It seems too much. Or sometimes we’d have to admit to truths about ourselves that we don’t want to face.
Sometimes we begin to absorb it one bite at a time, but without some sort of filter or coping, we swallow it, and the shock, hurt, anger, or grief sits. It creates all kinds of symptoms we try to ignore or explain. It becomes a part of us in ways that fill us beyond what we’re designed to hold. And it’s all too much.
Storms can be damaging well beyond the shifts in weather. Even after the sun comes out, we have some cleanup. Sometimes it’s easier to pretend the storm never hit and the sun was always shining. Sometimes it’s easier to pretend the storm is still surrounding us. Sometimes it’s easier to tell someone else how they need to deal with a storm we know nothing about.
Let’s encourage each other in healthy ways. Let’s deal well with whatever we’ve experienced and are facing. And let’s not swallow the storms.
Pure Purpose 