Filling the loneliness void
OPINION: Like many others in our rural communities, I grew up in a farmhouse with our telephone proudly sporting something like a crank handle on it.
No weather warning had been issued for our area. Even with the rain pelting down on our roof, nothing changed with the forecast. Daylight finally broke to reveal extensive damage to fences, culverts, and access tracks. Close to 100mm had dropped on us in something like 4 hours.
That was a followup to more than 100mm over the weekend just before. It reminded me of getting caught in what we used to call “cloudbursts” many years ago. I had to swim my horse through one of those to get myself home!
But then news from the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Northern Syria came to our screens. Reading some of the reports and seeing some of the news coverage made our situation fade into utter insignificance.
The miracle of the little baby girl rescued with her umbilical cord still attached to her deceased mother. I subsequently read they have named her MIRACLE! Other rescue miracles, plus the 24/7 tireless work of the rescuers … heroes and heroines to be sure!
Now if that’s not enough, NZ has just been hammered by Cyclone Gabrielle. More stories are coming to light every day.
Again, reading some of the reports and seeing some of the pictures gives a whole different perspective to our own personal dramas here on the farm.
Yes, times like these give you the opportunity to think and reflect, probably a little deeper than we usually have time for. I offer some unhurried life lessons today that have helped me in my journey here on this tiny marble we call planet earth.
1. There are others worse off than you. I’ve never experienced being buried alive under earthquake rubble for days, not knowing if I will ever be found. I know nothing of famine; of holding my starving little one in my arms as they leave this world.
2. The devastating event may have happened; you cannot change that. But you can choose how you react. You can choose your attitude; your response is up to you. I can now choose to give aid and assistance to those from the above, which will be great ‘therapy’ for me.
WWII Nazi concentration camp survivor Viktor Frankl saw them take his wife, his family, his possessions, and even his wedding ring. He said: “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing, the last of the human freedoms, to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.
3. Times like any of the above and more, are when true friends stand with you shoulder to shoulder in the midst of your storm. What a blessing to find you are not alone! You just can’t put a price on that.
For many years I had a quote pinned up on the wall of my office where I could see it every time I was there. To the best of my knowledge, it came from an American Indian elder.
Here it is: “It doesn’t matter who you are, or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the centre of the fire with me and not shrink back.”
I trust you have true friends like that. If you find yourself alone, you are most welcome to email me at the address below. And finally, I have seen, and experienced, that a real and active faith makes ‘all the difference in the world’ in the darkest of times.
Take care and God bless.
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