i woke up this morning with a bad case of the Blahs(!) …  it’s rainy, damp & overcast (a good day to hide under the covers & Not Get Up!)  … but it’s Sunday …

“Kai, Kai, KAI!!!” (very loud) my Blahs could have something to do with this 4:00 a.m. Summons …my Papa’s strongest speech exercise is often utilized to galvanize me from wherever i might be located in the house (in this case, very sound asleep next door) …

…dashing (in a stumbling sort of way) to find that Mama had fallen while trying to help Papa (with various issues she manages during The Night.) Hearing the ruckus, my brother also stumbled out of his room to the rescue…

Party on at the Woodwards (at 4:00AM?!)  …actually yes, our grateful hearts rejoiced that Mama is OK (nothing broken, Thank You God!)  BUT…after everyone fell back (ooops, gently nodded off) to sleep – I COULD NOT GET BACK TO SLEEP.   aaaaaahhhh!

7:00AM rolled around & It Was Time for the Savvy Saints Sunday getting up routine (they have church piped in via video feed at 9:00AM every Sunday & Must Be In Place, breakfast & all)  …my brother opted to join them (vs. Actually Going To Church or attending Bedside Baptist / Pillow Presbyterian..)

…but i go to church across town (yes, different churches, we are a Very Ecumenical Family & it’s a long story why…)

Must confess that I (seriously) contemplated blowing off church today (God does understand about these things, surely He doesn’t want a Red Headed Zombie dragging herself just To Be There?!)

But it IS Sunday… (and it IS LENT – 2 weeks to go, thank you God!)

so… to church went i (a bit late, the decision made at 10:45 which required a 2 minute shower + 1 minute outfit maneuver to Make It by 11:00! … which didn’t happen, but was OK because Church Started Late with some pre-Easter Goings On.. )

…all the way there, praying Lord, please Heal Me from these Blahs!

Then the Gospel was about Lazarus & Martha & Mary (i always resonate with Martha, ‘but Lord, the stench, the stench!!’ – Virginia’s paraphrase)

ok, so my blahs are NOTHIN’ compared to Lazarus being in the grave four days (Fr. John David said, “that’s REALLY dead.”)

…and then there’s the Shortest Verse in the Bible: “Jesus wept.”  Jesus was sorry to see Lazarus dead (altho He could have come or sent word for Lazarus to be Zapped with Healing before the whole dying ordeal..)

The thing is, maybe sometimes Jesus cries over us, because we put ourselves into graves of our own making? we deaden our spiritual hearts with The Blahs, Despair, (or worse) …   Or maybe our tombs are built with stones of circumstances We Can’t Control (suffering, illness, deaths of loved ones, loss of livelihood, loss, loss, loss of any kind…)

But, as with Lazarus, Jesus can Zap us with New Life (the spiritual kind) no matter how long we’ve been festering in our tombs… and with His fiery Love that can burn out what’s dead in our hearts to Make Something New…

… and listening closely, we might hear a bit of sage, spiritual advice:

GET MORE SLEEP(!)

just kiddin’ (altho, God did feed Elijah & make him rest after the Big Ordeal on Mt. Carmel – where oh where is my Chocolate Stash?!)

No seriously, today while praying for healing of The Blahs, this verse mindflashed (& hung around my mind’s thinking corridor awhile)  –

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart & lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.”   Proverbs 3:5-6

amen.

God knows i sure as heck sometimes don’t understand, but He does… so, i will squash these Blahs with TRUST & FAITH & ask Jesus to call me out of whatever deadening tomb is encasing my heart – to be Free to BE all i’m created To BE.. in HIM!

…  “Be not afraid, I go before you always…”

grace, peace & Spiritual Fortitude

Virginia : )

(…and a nap would be good… zzzzzzz….)

...Sunday Blahs under the Wisteria....

“Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song.”  Pope John Paul II