Grateful for Right Now
Day 84..I laid on my bedroom floor as I have found myself more often these days. It's that place I go when I'm feeling overwhelmed, ready to scream, and throw in the towel. This was a great weekend, it was filled up. But overflowing can feel overwhelming. And I was..
Jeremy and I had just got done covering 3 hours of severe weather for the Chicago and South Bend area. As I write that sentence, it seems like I might be talking about someone else's life. If one of my close friends called and asked, "Hey Lisa! What's the big plan for Memorial Day weekend?". "Oh you know, tracking a tornado." They might hang up and redial.
I recently heard "the only thing certain about life is UNcertainty". Um, yes. That sounds about right. I think about all those people we covered tornadoes for yesterday, life probably felt pretty uncertain in that moment. It might have felt like it was over.
As our family left for Veteran Memorial Park yesterday, the sun shined brightly over us as we walked hand in hand and remembered those who fought for us, and for this amazing country. It was emotional as we noticed the ages of the fallen soldiers ...mostly 19, 20 year olds. They had a whole life ahead of them but courageously fought for you and me.
We really don't know what tomorrow brings..but we have RIGHT NOW. As I was feeling overwhelmed later that day, I started to pray..a peace followed and I scrolled through the pictures I had taken earlier that day. I laughed as I noticed about 20 pictures that were accidently snapped while we were on our stroll. "Just great! Twenty pics of my feet haha". But then I spotted one that captured a beautiful moment...me looking up at the man I love, and another sweet moment where we are holding hands, a hand I will hold until my last breath..that part is certain.
"Be still". Sometimes that is all it takes in those overwhelming moments..a bedroom floor, maybe a closet will do haha. But God showed me those sweet moments through the lense of my phone camera, and I quickly came back to what matters most.
After our Wxlive@945 show, Jeremy went back on WxLiveNow until the wee hours of the night covering a life threatening tornado event in Dayton, Ohio. I am honored to hold hands with a man who would do anything to save someone's life. He had the choice to go to bed after a long weekend or do what he felt called to do. Jeremy's family experienced a F-5 tornado that took his family's and grandparent's homes back in 1974. They almost didn't make it out alive. Jeremy's called to make sure that doesn't happen to others.
This morning I showed our son, Landon, his dad working it on the YouTube last night with almost 20,000 views. I said, "Look Landon, your father is the DanTDM of weather!" (DanTDM is a well known Youtube personality and professional gamer for those who are not aware or as hip as me and Landon haha) We both laughed. But we were both so proud. Our family has had many uncertainties come our way, but you just keep making lemonade, keep helping, keep loving.
Have a wonderful week. Look for the moments that mean the most! #overflowingNOToverwhelming
Love,
Lisa Ray