I settle a little one down whose cries awakened Husband, and I sob to him at 2 am that I feel like I'm being crushed. Panic racing through my mind--all the buzzing screens, clicks, words, conversations--play and re-play in blazing fast-forward like a bad trip.
When I lay my head on his chest, and he wraps arm 'round, it feels like being rocked.
I rock out the sobbing cry, snubbing and stammering out the fury of emotions held inside for weeks and months. I can't breathe, I tell him, can't sleep, and how I thought as I lie there that it would be better if all this was ended. It comes out in rythmic force. I constantly feel. as if the bottom. is about to. fall out. from beneath me. Hands flail in the dark and hot lava pours down flaming red, puffy cheeks. The Shadows don't let him see, but Husband, he knows me. He asks if I always feel this way. I nod, murmur a quiet yes, the waves of terror all starting to subside as his understanding and caring begin to sweep over.
The social anxiety, insomnia, and depression here since Lilly was born, I google agorophobia and, yeah, I bashfully admit to myself, the symptoms are there. I didn't know there was possibly a name for the feeling I get when I can't keep up with the world.
I don't know if this is the right name, but for me, learning that there is a name out there for this sort of thing? This helps explains the innate, powerful urge for quiet, why I run from social media in an age when "everyone" is constantly engaged, why entering the grocery store and going to church feels like I'm lying on a bed of nails. It explains the blurring mind-racing and sobbing at 2 am. My mind, my body just can't keep up.
But maybe I'm not supposed to keep up. Maybe I'm not built that way--all this tweeting and sharing comments with the world? I'd like to softly whisper it, and send it out on the summer breeze: I don't know that I'm God-built to be in constant contact, with distractions too many for me to keep my head from spinning.
Maybe that's the good news here? That God already knows what we can handle? He did create the Sabbath--so He intelligently calculated rest into the equation of time, apart of our daily routine. He worked and rested--so I should work and rest. And rest--that can take on quite a different face for all of us. For some, this means never entering the full force of social circles that overpower and leave us weak.
Lying in his arms, I tell him I'm weak, that there are so many things I want to do--grow a garden with my girls, learn to knit with that kit my Mama bought me four years ago, read that stack of books, be a loving mama to these four kids, educate these four kids, just go out in the sunshine with them--and not enough physical strength to man-up to all the work everyday.
How many things do I have to pare back, pull away so there is room to breathe?
I serve on no committees, run no charities, bake no fresh bread. I'm just a mom who has a huge pile of laundry, a grocery list I'm afraid to go to the store with, and everything where it shouldn't be--a few apple cores lying around in laundry baskets and books lying with their white-paged corners pushed just far enough, yes, smudged right there in the grape jelly on the kitchen counter.
And admist the chaos, I'm just a simple girl with a love for simple things: running, flowers, sunshine in my children's hair.
I really want to say this out loud: I need these simple things--these God-gifts--to feel connected, to feel that I belong, to feel that I'm okay in this whole wide universe.
When all around me and underneath me feels like it's falling apart, I just want to know that I'm simply held, that it's enough for me to just be and that God gets glory through that.
So maybe this really is the important thing to know: there are just seasons of simple. Seasons when all God is calling us to do is the very basic. And in some seasons the tasks of sleeping, eating, getting exercise and taking care of our families can even be a challenge. Every. single. day.
I'm not built to do it all. None of us are. Sometimes I just have to scale back on expectations, peel back committments so I can scale up these mountain walls and peel back these shadows to see--peel back this thick, dark cloud of burden, behind which lies the stage where real life is played out. Where food and Word is enjoyed by the whole family at mealtime, water satisfies children's parched throats, and I look on lovingly, every bone in my body that cries out for heaven satiated in this small moment of God's glory felt as I rock my child, yellow silky whisps brushing my cheek in these shadows. And it's right here in these fleeting heartbeats that I know that I can't be everything to everyone, but I can do this, right now, here in the quiet where no one sees.
It's like Husband so wisely keeps telling me: "You aren't a writer who happens to be a mother. You are a mother who just happens to be a writer."
I will scale up that mountain, ask God to help me peel back that cloud, and shout out from it's very top: God has made me free in His gospel of grace, and though these weary bones cry out for Heaven in this worldly tug-of-war, He has made me the way I am to cause me to turn to Him in praise! He makes me see His excellence in making me and I turn to His arms for comfort and rest. There I am free, really, really free, in His understanding Father-arms.
And in the shadows, God, He knows me.
Just a few of my Grace-Gifts from the past month, counting in thankfulness to God still:
one lone bright yellow maple leaf on the ground of the woods
hiatus leaving me refreshed and healed from so much anxiety
girls' giggles
Husband working hard on schoolroom
messes in floors made by baby girls, all of us having work and a purpose, and buckets and mops making floors shiny
a weekend alone at home--just the two of us--and a day out of town having fun together
Husband grilling salmon and eating outside in the middle of the week
jumping up spontaneously on the trampoline to enjoy being with my girls and getting a workout at the same time!
kitchen table top gleaming beautifully
the way a wash rag feels in my hand as I make beautiful
a surprise visit from a dear friend
time to sit and write a letter to a close friend
time alone to run free in the woods
how he needs me, how I need him
**Please read--Friends, I write this post with a trembling heart, not knowing how it will be received. Because of what I expressed here, I will not be able to answer comments and visit very many blogs--although I would love for you to feel a sense of community when you are here, and I hope you do feel right at home--I just think--though we all search for so much interaction and approval from others, that sometimes, maybe in some seasons, sometimes very long seasons, just a quiet place with God is what we truly need. Just a place to reflect, pray, dream. I thought of taking the comment section off completely, but I would like to give you the opportunity to share if you like. I cherish your words, and the beautiful soul God made you. You all really do add such depth to the journey here...Also, I'd like you to know that when I see you here, my heart just leaps out of my chest to connect with you--to let you know I hear you! Oh friend, I'm so glad you understand, and thank you for so much grace! I am nodding my head, teary-eyed, as I read your hearts here.
joining with Ann for counting gifts.....
and also for Walk With Him Wednesday...
Shared with Emily...
