Friday, March 20, 2020

Hey, Chick! Focus on the Positives.





Wow! What a difference a few weeks makes…a few days make…a few hours make. I ended my last blog entry by saying, “a lot of firsts for us this year and we look forward to enjoying them all”. Could you have imagined this “first” that we are all experiencing together as we forge through the unknown with the COVID-19 pandemic!?! So many changes for us so quickly. I don’t think that my head has stopped spinning. Once we have our share of toilet paper stocked in the pantry and we have mastered the art of social distancing, we can pause and choose to look at this in a variety of ways. I am encouraging you to look at the positives. I have seen a lot of negativity around cancellations of sports, school, travel, work, etc. but what I have also seen is a social news feed with the occasional picture of families coming together, playing board games, spending time together and enjoying each other’s company. I have also seen promotions for free streaming music performances, Broadway performances, workout classes, worship services. Last Sunday, my news feed was filled with various church services that had gone live. It was awesome! I am seeing people supporting their local businesses by choosing carry-out options and buying gift cards. If you can, I would encourage you to do the same. I am seeing the long overdue appreciation of our “essential workers”, grocery store workers, gas station workers, skilled trade workers, police, fire, doctors, nurses, mail delivery, financial institutions, home medical suppliers and so on. We are social beings, no doubt, and we will eventually get back to a new normal but let’s take advantage of this time to slow down a little. Understand that God is in control and let’s choose joy. The streaming church service that I took in last Sunday reminded me that choosing joy doesn’t change the problem that we face; it changes the way we face our problem. Our kids are watching us and learning about how we react to stress and uncertainty. Let’s make sure we teach them to be resilient and not to panic. I know, like me, you are seeing nothing but information on this pandemic and I felt a need to write about this on my blog and hopefully encourage you a little. For a Simple Ridge update; we have let the cats out of the barn and at least two have hung around and are helping with mice and unfortunately a couple of birds as well. From starting with 15 chickens, we lost one right away and are down to 14. Those 14 seem to be very healthy and I need to get my butt in gear and build a coop before they are too big for the container that we have them in currently. I have already upgraded their accommodations from a large plastic storage container to a large box that used to hold bird feed at Menards. Ha, funny story, Liz and I knew that the chicks had outgrown the container so we went in search of something bigger (you mean I have to spend more money on these birds?!)…As we were walking the aisles of Menards, I see this huge, empty box and I thought, this will work perfectly and I doubt it's very expensive ;) Excellent! After reinforcing it a little and putting some pieces of an old rug at the bottom with pine shavings, the chicks were good to go. Like this pandemic and like everything else, we must be creative and learn as we go. Let’s not forget to choose joy, be thoughtful of others and look at the positives in the process.



2 comments:

  1. Beautifully written! It’s true that our attitude toward the pandemic and how we deal with it affects those around us. Choosing joy is the best thing we can do for others and ourselves! Thank you, Darrell, for this positive reminder! 🌝❤️

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