Stormy Seasons

****My Easter Sunday was...not the ideal spring day of fun that I had hoped.  I don't often wax religious on the blog, so if it offends you, consider this your notice to scroll past the text and just enjoy the outfit photos or skip this post entirely.****  

Today is one of those posts where the outfit and the text and the theme don't really line up.  I suppose if I were really reaching I could do an April Showers Bring May Flowers sort of thing, but I don't really want to reach, so we'll just stick with the idea that they don't match up.

A family member came to us in crisis mode.  Rent is due, taxes are due, her car broke down on the way to our house and had to be towed to the junk yard, and to top it all off, her cat is at death's door.  There is an old poem by Longfellow that goes, "Into each life some rain must fall, some days must be dark and dreary."  It's a statement with which we could all agree, and I would pair it with when it rains it pours, but this sweet girl was getting hit with a typhoon and according her, it wasn't just a one off; her life was in full on typhoon season.  

We all go through storms.  And sometimes the storms are so awful and so long that when they do finally end, we're never really confident that they're over, always looking over our shoulders in every happy moment to see if there are clouds gathering again.  And the fact is, there probably are clouds gathering again.  Difficult seasons in life are a guarantee and try as we might, we're rarely prepared for them, but the worst thing we can do is to let the happy moments be polluted by worry over the next difficulty.  Enjoy the quiet, the peace, the good, and face the next storm when it comes.

As for my family member, well, God gave us family and community so we never have to face our troubles alone.  So, in addition to words of encouragement, hugs, and dinner, we gave her as much financial help as was possible.  She didn't come to us looking for money, she just came to enjoy Easter dinner.  And I don't mention the help to brag, I say it because I truly believe that prayers are a wonderful thing, but sometimes people need actual help not just good thoughts and well wishes.  And the least Christian thing I could do is to tell someone I love that I hope and pray all their troubles go away while I am sitting on at least a little bit of the means to make some of those troubles go away.  It won't fix all her problems and it won't fix them forever, and I may not always be able to help, but this time I could, so I did.  If nothing else, now she knows that when (not if) she sees the next round of storms gathering, someone will be there to face them with her and when (not if) they finally pass, her family will be there to celebrate with her too.

Outfit Info:  Connie in Parisian Patio Print from Retrospec'd, Purple Heels from BAIT footwear, YeMak cardigan