It’s been awhile. I’ve lost my voice.

Life is always hard for me. It’s not because my life isn’t perfect because I make sure to keep it in perspective and know that anything I’ve ever experienced (and I’ve experienced plenty), or am presently experiencing, is nothing. No, life is hard for me because life isn’t so perfect for others. My heart hurts for all the troubles of my friends and all the troubles of humanity in general.

A couple of weeks ago my husband took me away to Arkansas. I needed to recharge my batteries. He’s had a rough summer, actually a rough year thus far. He needed to recharge his batteries, too.

We rented a cabin at Mount Ida on Lake Ouachita. It was secluded and with school having resumed, we pretty much had the entire 40,000 acres (surface area)/690 mile shore length to ourselves, plus or minus a couple of house boats and a bass boat or two.

It was nice weather all week … sunny, most days with temps in the 80’s. We enjoyed what I call the three R’s: readin’, relaxin’ and ‘riting. We even found our own private island where someone who had come before us had ever so graciously left a lawn chair for us to kick back and rest in.

One of the days we came upon another island and found a cave. How cool! I managed to climb into the cave and took a photo that very possibly is the coolest photo I’ve ever taken.

As I sat in that cave looking out over the water and the blue sky and fluffy clouds, it made me think of how I strive to view the world, how I choose to view a world filled with so much negativity and hurt. It is a choice for me and I choose to focus on the good, the beauty. Looking out over that water, I could have dwelled on my troubles and the troubles of the world. Nope, for just a day I chose to focus on Gods glorious earth.

The world is full of too much hate. I hurt when I see how people treat one another. I hurt when I see the homeless. I hurt when I hear of children in my community who go to school hungry every day, who my church collects backpacks of food to send home with kids at local schools because it’s the only food they will get … that their entire families will get for the week. I hurt when I see a young mother being interviewed on television after Hurricane Harvey has hit south Texas. A woman with tears in her eyes saying people judge her for not seeking higher ground and her words were “we didn’t know where to go, we had no where to go because we had no way to get there.” She lost her home. My heart hurts. I want to jump through my t.v. and give her a hug and tell her it will all be okay. But will it? Will it all really be okay? I’ve just returned from a quiet vacation readin’, ‘ritin’, and relaxin’. It’s all okay in my world. But will it all be okay in hers? I desperately want to gather her family and take her to Mount Ida so that she too can recharge her battery so that she can, if only for a day see the fawn lazily grazing by the edge of the forest, or pull up to an island, stick a beach umbrella in the sand and drink a Mikes Lemonade, look up at the blue sky, gaze at the mountains in the distance and say, “Thank you, God. Thank you for my perfect world.”

I realize people, humanity, the world is imperfect. But for a day, if only for a day, I wish everyone could spend time in a cave not looking in but looking out. Just for a day I wish everyone could walk in my “perfect shoes”. I pray I never have to walk in shoes of homelessness or hunger or economic strife. I pray I never become filled with hate, but that I always have a grateful, yet hurting heart. I pray this story has a positive impact on someone … “Be the change you want to see in the world”

Can’t promise I won’t always need to recharge my battery but I can promise I’ll never stop trying to see the good and do good.

God bless all who read this. It was meant for good.

…… Mooresels of life (thank you Ray Cookson and MJ Close)