February Funk

Last week, as a family, we read about the beginning of Christ's miracles in the New Testament, when He turned water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana. (John 2)  What followed from this reading was a fairly cooperative discussion about Christ's miracles in the here and now.  While talking with the kids, I remembered a quote from a Conference talk a few years ago that has made me re-think my idea of what constitutes a "miracle" and provided me with an opportunity to share with them an experience I had earlier that week.

You see, I've been in a bit of a funk the last few weeks.  Maybe even the last year, if we're being technical.  But the last few weeks in particular have been rough.  I feel exhausted all the time, keeping up with any kind of housework has been (quite literally) a chore, having the motivation to just DO almost anything has been a struggle to overcome the inertia of doing nothing, and I kind of just want to sleep.  In addition, I've felt lonely and alone and forgotten, even though intellectually I know that none of those things are actually merited. 

In Elder Hallstrom's Conference address, Has the Day of Miracles Ceased?, he shares the following thought: 

Often we describe a miracle as being healed without a full explanation by medical science or as avoiding catastrophic danger by heeding a clear prompting. However, defining a miracle as “a beneficial event brought about through divine power that mortals do not understand” gives an expanded perspective into matters more eternal in nature.

I love what a broadened view this idea gives to the concept of miracles.  Yes -- there are miracles that are huge in scale and nature.  But I think that defining a miracle in this manner lends itself to categorizing many more tender mercies as such.  

Last Tuesday night, I fell asleep with a song stuck in my head.  Ethan has been playing "A Child's Prayer" on the piano for the last couple of weeks, and the words kept running through my mind.  As I prayed that night, I found myself asking the same question as the song -- "Heavenly Father, are you really there?"   Not because I doubt it, but because sometimes I do feel forgotten or inconsequential or lacking in some way.  

The very next day, however, came my own personal miracle.  One of my best friends from college (whom I haven't talked to in a couple months) called me out of the blue.  And in the course of our {super long} conversation, catching up on all that's been happening over the last little bit, I recognized how inspired she was to give me a call and see how I was doing.  And in the course of our  conversation, I was inspired to finally make some phone calls and set up some doctor's appointments.  {I've been on medication for depression for about 2 years now, but I'm pretty sure I've been needing some adjustments.}  Another tender mercy -- or miracle, as I like to look at it -- in this story was that when I called to make those appointments I was able to get one for THIS week thanks to a cancellation from someone else.  

That phone call alone would have been enough to turn around my day and mood, but almost as soon as I hung up with my friend, I received another, out of the blue, call from my sister!  She confessed that she didn't really have anything to chat about, but had been thinking about me the last couple of days and thought she should call.  After getting off the phone with her, all I could think was how grateful I was that Heavenly Father answered my prayer so quickly and let me know that YES -- He is really there.  And He does hear and answer my prayers.

I'm really excited and hopeful that I can get things figured out.  And I promise that there ARE some fun February things to catch up on as well.  Really -- there are!  Stay tuned for tomorrow's post to see how Sophie's escape room birthday party went.  :)

  

Maxwell -- my favorite funk buster.