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When I was a kid, I loved to watch the Tigger movie. Tigger was always full of excitement and wonder and playfulness and he lived in a tree house! I thought that was cool.
I didn’t ever really understand Eeyore because he got to live in the Hundred Acre Wood and hang out with all of his pals and Christopher Robin all the time.
But, I do understand Eeyore now because, as an adult, having to make “adult” decisions is kind of scary.
Never before have I had to worry about insurance, housing, job searching, actually living with my husband. . . (We’ve been married for almost six months but we’ve been waiting for me to finish college and for him to finish training to actually live together under the same roof. . . #LongDistance.)
So all at once I find myself in a tiny town in Missouri (without a car, but that’s another story), living with a man, trying to find a job, and making hot pockets and frozen meals for dinner (I can’t cook either).
I don’t know anyone here . . . no family, no friends, no employees and no source of income.
This isn’t meant to be a pity party, but it is being honest with you. I don’t know how many of y’all are finding yourselves in a “scary” real-life situation right now in the midst of a global pandemic, national protesting and riots and at the beginning of a recession, but we have to learn how to live with it without getting tangled up in worry and tears (because, trust me, I’ve done the latter before and it’s a time-waster).
So, what are we going to do?
I think we need (I need) to begin by thinking of all that God has given us and to be grateful for what we do have.
I’ll start, here’s my list:
- A God who loves me and provides.
Apparently, Tyler and I were at the bottom of the waiting list for base housing. He told me that somehow we went from being 25 out of 27 on the list to moving up to the top. And now, we have a move-in day and we don’t have to worry about paying rent, utilities or coughing up money to buy basic appliances. God is taking care of us, and he will take care of you too.
2. The benefits of being temporarily unemployed.
Honestly, it’s nice right now to not have to worry about a quota or class or clocking-in hours. Instead, I can focus on planning out what we are going to need for the house (we didn’t make a registry before we were married because neither of us had a house or place to put stuff) and I can spend my time scouring the internet looking for jobs and (maybe) learning how to cook. God’s given me time to catch my breath, soul-search and find out what is out there for me.
3. Great friends, great family, and a great husband.
When it was finally time for me and my husband to be reunited, my plan was to drive my car up to Tyler’s base in Missouri with most of the “essentials”, but my car had other plans. I hadn’t seen my husband in three months, my hopes were kind of up at this point, and a friend of mine offered to drive me six hours to get me there, and six hours back, and turned it into a fun road trip.
So I made it and even though it takes 20 minutes to walk to the commissary/exchange. . . I’m with my husband again. Also, I can’t tell you how many of my family members have offered to drive all the way up from TX, load up all of our stuff in AR, drive all the way up in MO, and then back down to TX again.
Now that, my friends, is love and dedication. My husband has even seen what I’m like in the mornings before coffee and he hasn’t asked for a divorce yet . . . I’d say we have a pretty good shot at this marriage thing.
Deep breath in, deep breath out.
Are you caught up in worry and stress from all the craziness that is happening right now or might happen? It’s time to make a list for yourself, too.
Let’s focus on what God has given us, instead of what might be (temporarily) taken away.
Let’s choose to be grateful, and a Tigger over an Eeyore.
Copyright © 2020 by Melody Turner @ https://honest-maybe-relatable.com/2020/06/04/reeling-from-real-life-be-a-tigger//. Used with permission. No part of this article may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from Lifeword.org.