What Harshes Your Serenity?

A couple weeks ago Venus was passing the sun and someone told me that everything in the universe was out of kilter. I'll tell you, I had never had more clients cry in two weeks in my life. I used at least twenty boxes of tissue. 

            Everyone seemed to have a crisis. Me--I just seemed to be floating along trying to snuff out the fires with a little compassion. I kept hearing in my prayers: "Be the Calm in the storm. Be the peace in the chaos!"

            Then one day the HARSH CAME INTO MY SERENITY. Peace became a little more difficult to dole out whenever I couldn't find it in myself. The strange thing was, the unrest I felt was all a result of a complete misunderstanding. I mean, the person I was at unrest with, didn't even know I was upset. He was joking and told me so then and later. I didn't hear him the first time saying he was kidding. So, I went through seven clients in a row seething with anger and frustration, when it was all an illusion only to find out 7 hours later he was teasing me.

            Me thinks that the Spirit was trying to teach the teacher a lesson about keeping his cool until he had the whole story. But let me tell you a little about the teacher. He has his problems too. One of them is PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). When it kicks in, it is like being blind-sided on a football field by two tackles. (I have no idea if I used that metaphor correctly, since I know absolutely nothing about football accept for what I learned from the movie, "Blindside.")

            Anyway, what happened that morning hit me between the eyes, and knocked me off my center—it HARSHED MY SERENITY—big time. Finding my peace was like looking for the football with a concussion. (Where are these jock metaphors coming from? I must be channeling my father.)

            Yesterday, a dear friend of mine watched a sister die with Lou Gehrig's disease after a year and a half of expectation and mourning the depreciation of what was once a vibrant, loving best friend. Do we cry with her? Do we sit in our peace and hold her? Do we let emotions take us to unfamiliar places and just buckle up for the ride?

            I remember a close friend Lisa Palas acting in a way that I hope to emulate in times like these when my father died. She was in church with me when I heard the news and took me by the arm and said, "What do you need me to do? We can leave now and you just give me instructions. I'll be your arms and hands. I know your head is swimming. Just let me do for you what you can't." It was the best thing anyone could have said. Because, to tell you the truth, I don't remember anything that happened that morning. She took care of all of it. Thank God, because I don't think I could have. 

            Was she the calm in the storm? Absolutely. If she would have entered into my pain and mourned with me, I don't think she could have helped me like she did, though I knew she loved me in the moment just as much as those who were crying with me. 

            Many things can knock us off course, but only one thing can bring us back to our center. That sweet breath of life the lives and moves and has our being can take control and draw you back to your center. You can recite Truth to yourself, because in your angry moments, only fearful lies come up in your mind. 

            Words like: "I am free and at peace and living in the bounty of God's love now." "I live and move in the freedom of great peace because God is in control of my life." "No one can control my mind but me. I take control now and come back to the comfort of the heart of God." 

            I hope these things will help you through any rough patches today. And please say some prayers for my friend Nancilynn and her family today for the passing of her sister.