Settle Down

I’ve been on the move.  I need to settle down. 

I need to talk about sitting in sorrow.

There’s a lot to be said for sitting and observing what’s going on around you, even in tough times.

Of course, no one wants to be in an uncomfortable place very long.

We want to get away from painful places.  -But what if we can’t escape ? 

When you sit in loss for the long haul, you learn a lot.

For this old writer, it seems like years of learning.

As a matter of fact,

I’m still figuring things out. 

Hurricane Ian gave me another look at loss. 

Right now I sit in the midst of hurricane wreckage.

I’m learning while I’m stuck here. 

Some folks have visited our damaged island and cried.  They poked around the ruins and photographed the wreckage.

Then they escaped. They ran home to avoid this depressing place. 

I don’t blame them. 

Thanks to the kindness of a friend, I’ve been able to hang out with the ruins. 

Some nights, it’s just me and the piles of trash and, of course,

the moon and stars.

We’re all over here sitting in sorrow.   

A wise person (I’m so old, I can’t remember the name) gave me

a good tool for sitting in  tough times. 

It’s an acronym I’ve tweaked a bit, well, because, you know… God. 

The acronym is SOLAR. 

My letters stand for STOP. OBSERVE. LEARN (LETGO) and

RETURN to what is RIGHT.

If you’re in a hard place right now,

STOP and rest a bit. 

OBSERVE what’s going on in this moment.  

Guess what?

God’s right here with you. 

Understand you’re OK .

Disaster might have beaten you down, but God is keeping you safe. 

 LEARN the lesson of losing things.

Things are just things. 

Even lost money is a hurdle God can help us overcome. 

If you’re like me, you’ve lost people. 

That’s a tough one, but we can learn to LET GO.

Don’t forget the A and R in SOLAR!  These letters stand for:

AND RETURN to the good stuff.  RETURN to the GOD stuff.  

I don’t want to be distracted by what I’ve lost. 

I want to be empowered by what I’ve LEARNED from loss.

Let’s  RETURN to doing what’s RIGHT by God, 

no matter what our circumstances! 

Settle down and S-O-L-A-R. 

We can learn a lot and live a better life. 

“Be still and know that I am God.”

– Psalm 46:10