Some Days Feel Not Okay

In the warp and woof of daily living, no one is perfect. No one is doing it just right all the time. You know that, right?

Life can be beautiful like the zinnia and butterfly. Those are days we rejoice. But it’s not always perfect like that. Some days feel out of sorts and not okay.

The barometric pressure drops, and some of us do not feel tip-top and have no clue as to why. We just wobble our way through it.

I prefer calm and beautiful, but hey, this is human life. It gets messy now and then.

And if the Holy Spirit starts working, it can get real messy before it gets easy and calm again.

When it’s messy (unlike the butterfly and zinnia), I usually need to talk about it with someone who has his/her ears on. That’s what helps me.

I noticed when I was a full-time counselor that my clients most always carried the answers for their troubles inside of themselves. They had the keys to their own lives. They just couldn’t hear themselves or access the exact key they needed. It was my job to listen close and pull out the answers they were saying but couldn’t hear. Once I repeated what they had said, they could hear it and confirm it.

I loved the counseling process. Clients sometimes thought I’d done something magical. I didn’t. I just listened and responded to their words, feelings, thoughts. I provided a safe place for them to unload.

It’s a beautiful process.

I think I was a “Dear Abby” person in the 8th grade. Girlfriends confided in me. But honestly, I may have learned as much from friends and clients as they learned from me.

It’s a two-way relationship, and trust is a major part of it.

Today, when I choose to tell my depth and my brokenness, I carefully choose people to talk to who display fruit of the Spirit. Those nine characteristics are listed in Galatians 5:22-23 (NKJV): "...love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control."

It’s okay to be vulnerable, to feel not okay, to share it. It’s a human thing.

I remain highly blessed when someone shows me a bit of brokenness. If they like my response, they usually tell more. I hold it until they are through talking about it, then I hand it back to them. It belongs to them, you see, not to me. It’s their story, not mine.

Of course no one likes to reveal their weaknesses and vulnerabilities, but if you brave up, it helps to do that very thing. Remember when Paul, a faithful follower of Jesus Christ, prayed to be released from his weakness? He received His answer: "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NKJV)

Guess that means the healing of our wounds comes through our brokenness, not through our strong moments. Paul was denied his request. So what did he do? He continued to spread the gospel, and he talked with friends and wrote about it.

May you and I be available to someone who needs to talk this week. If you can do that, it will bless you. And if you need to talk, choose carefully and give it a go.

Blessings,

Pat Durmon

(patdurmon.com)

P. S. –Thank you, dear readers, for your personal notes to me and your comments on my blog. I am complimented and blessed to have you in my life. Special gratitudes for your Sharing of my blogs. You bless me with each Share.

Photo by Freeda Baker Nichols, taken in her yard in Clinton, Arkansas, September, 2018.