I took my dog for a walk along our local riverbank and when I sat down on a bench and stared at the view and the sun reflecting on the water, I saw three swans majestically making their way along. There was no movement on the surface and they looked so calm and peaceful, heads held high. There is something about swans that makes you want to stop and just watch them especially as they swim along.
I was also thinking of what it took to make them look like that. The bit we don’t see, i.e. their webbed feet paddling away to keep the momentum going. Life can be a bit like that. On the surface we are looking okay, coping, even doing a good job at the various roles we have been assigned in life. When asked how we are, we just use the usual responses that seem to come automatically: ‘I’m okay, everything is fine, etc.’ It isn’t easy to open up and reveal just exactly how we are feeling, how we are struggling just to stand still, let alone go further.
I found particularly as a mother, life was a big struggle when my children were young. Not because they were particularly difficult; they were just normal babies, toddlers, etc. I think we try to look as if we are always coping though and don’t let people know we aren’t managing too well and so when we are ask how everything is going, we put on our best faces and don’t let anything show.
I know that it might not seem like it, but to share those feelings, especially in prayer with God, can really help. Praying with others also does help which is why I like being part of my Mothers’ Prayers group. We can express how we are feeling in perfect safety and that help which God always offers comes to us in various forms. Relief in sharing an issue, help from a friend and sometimes in other ways that we aren’t expecting.
I just wanted to say that no matter what your issues, give them to God and share them with others so that you can know that there is help there for you to get you through difficult times. Don’t ever feel that you are alone. God is just waiting for you to ask.
Luke 11:9-10
And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.…
Widows Mote 