We should seek and hold onto joy whenever we can.
As the pictures of the devastation from Hurricane Michael keep rolling in, it seems to be the topic of everyone’s conversation. Part of it is because, Florida is our next door neighbor and so many of us in Georgia, have been to those places that were hit so hard.
We have so many memories of wonderful times spent there.
Personally, I have scanned the internet daily for a business in Panama City called Goofy Golf. It’s a putt-putt place that’s been there since the fifties. My parents took us to play putt-putt there every year on our family vacations. My mama’s parents took her to play there and I’ve taken my own kids to play there. Although it’s just a place, I desperately want it to have survived.
A few years ago, when the entire town of Gatlinburg, Tennessee was on fire, I frantically searched the internet, hoping that the chapel that my hubby and I got married in, was still standing. It wasn’t like our marriage would have no longer been valid if it burned, I just really wanted it to have survived.
When I think of the people who actually have homes in that area, that were there one minute and gone the next and the people who have severe storm damage, my heart breaks for them. As I have prayed for the folks on the Florida Panhandle the last few days, I’m reminded that our lives can drastically change in the blink of an eye.
As we go through our everyday lives, we can get so complacent, that we take it all for granted. It had been since the 1850’s that, that area had been hit by a hurricane of that magnitude. No one is even alive that would remember it, but I’ve no doubt that those people living back then, were just as devastated.
The aftermath of Hurricane Michael reminds me that we should soak up every moment we are given with the people we love and with those who love us. It reminds me to tell the people we love that we love them. It reminds me to seek and to hold on tightly to joy and to let anger and pain go. It reminds me that we should forgive easily and anger slowly. It reminds me that nothing on this side of Eternity is permanent, no matter how strong we may think it is.
Life is a gift. We should remember that every morning when we wake up. Sometimes I need reminding. Perhaps you do too.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂