In January of 2003, I was a 22-year-old college student who was looking forward to my last semester at college. I had my plans lined up, and goals worked out. But I got a call that changed my life forever! Oh! I was in the Army Reserve also; did I forget to mention that? Yes, so I got a call that said you have 24 hours to report to the reserve center with all your Army things and whatever else you think you might need for an indeterminate amount of time. What?
I cried all the way home, grieving the life I was leaving behind, having no idea if I would ever return or how life would be, if I returned. I dutifully packed my things and reported like a good soldier, and began my journey to Iraq. A journey that would end up being a year and a half before returning home. Life looked a lot different when I returned. A lot of my family and friends seemed very much the same, but I felt very different. I was looking at life through a different lens, a lens shaded by my experiences the previous year.
That initial shock of having to turn our life around is where we are now mommas. We have to keep walking through life, with added responsibilities. While also grieving the life we lost, or were planning to have. Seniors are giving up prom, graduation, and all the honors and fun that come with their last year of high school. The little elementary kiddos are losing the end of their first years of school, and some are small enough that they think this is normal. Bless their hearts! And moms, we are giving up what we thought life would look a few weeks ago.
Moms, you are walking through the trenches of life right now, you have been deployed to fight for your family against our new enemy Covid-19. You have been tasked with keeping up the house, and helping kids with school work, and maybe even working at your regular job too. Also, you have to keep up with all the changes that happen daily with regards to grocery shopping, and how to protect your family from the virus.
Please, please give yourself the grace of grieving the loss of the life you had, of what you thought life was going to look like in the future. Give the control of the uncontrollable over to the One who knows what the future has in store for us.
When I was deployed, I thought it was the end of my life, and it was, in one way. But it also opened the door to a new life, a life where I wanted something different for my life. I wanted a simpler life, one with a husband and kids if that was God’s will. I came home with the idea of never saying no to reasonable suggestions, to live life to the fullest.
Moms after we have defeated this enemy, we will live life to the fullest! We will hug a little longer, enjoy getting invites to see friends or go out for a night with our spouse. Hopefully, we never dread our busy schedules again because deep down we know what it was like to lose our busy schedules overnight, and take on unimaginable tasks in our own house.
While we wait for that time to come don’t forget to look around and realize what you have done, and overcome. Your deployment has begun, there are no u-turns, and you are the roadside assistant for your family. Let’s go! There are great things to come Mom!
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