Monday Meditation: Tough times

Well, it’s been one helluva week.  I got seriously sick and missed lots of school.  During my convalescence, the grading piled up, in its horrible and insidious way, meaning I’m now behind on a few writing deadlines.  Both boys have nasal discharge of varying colors, and one of them now has pinkeye.  And yesterday, I started feeling icky again, and I am just crossing my fingers and praying that it’s not a relapse, because if I have to write anymore sub plans I will go postal.

Hey, everybody: Pity Party at Ginny’s house!

Sometimes I think I am an emotional wuss of the first order.  Things like this — the sickness, the resultant reworking of our already fragile schedule of childcare, the pitching of my carefully-laid plans — can really get me in a funk.  I don’t like that.  I should be stronger.  And sometimes, I am.  I’ve gone through experiences in my life that were excruciating, physically and emotionally, and I’ve weathered those storms with my little boat of sanity still afloat.  But somehow, the minor annoyances can add up and really drag me down.

This is when it’s helpful to recall a quotation on the wall of my classroom.  It says, “Tough times never last, but tough people do.” That’s useful to remember in this time of family pestilence.  I just need to be tougher than the cough, the virus, the pinkeye.   As my grandma used to say, this too shall pass.

And boy, if I need a reality check, there is nothing like the photos of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami to make me call off the pity party.  It’s hard even for a native Californian to fathom a quake that big, and destruction that total.   It makes me want to cry for those people who have lost everything they owned, who have lost people they love.  As the first real week of Lent starts, I’m going to keep them in my prayers in a very major way.  I’ll pray for them to be tough and strong — stronger than the moving plates, stronger than the waves.   It’s the least I can do, but I think it must count for something.

Our Lady of Japan courtesy of Holy Cards for Your Inspiration.