January 22, 2021 What a great week we had at Soapstone Preschool! Even though it was a short week, each class settled in quickly on Tuesday and started the week with activities galore! I love watching the kids enjoy winter fun in the classroom. They played in awesome winter “caves”, built igloos with blocks of “snow”, and designed gorgeous winter scenes with ALL the glitter. Do you see this glitter theme at preschool? We are saving you from the glitter at home! The children used their fine motor skills to build snowmen and to free write in foil & “snow” trays, used marshmallows & snowflakes to count, and read all the winter books that are so heart-warming. Check out The Mitten, The Hat, and Snowmen at Night if you haven’t already at home. No matter if we are warm or cold, wet with unexpected sleet during carpool, covered in January glitter, and no matter what is happening in the world around us – we are having a blast as we continue teaching and learning each day at the preschool.
That being said – I’m going to be really honest. Writing this note, my blog, tends to come easily to me. You know I can talk! However, this week’s was tough, and I definitely stared at the computer screen for a while, with a blank page just waiting to be filled. I imagine part of it came from the pressure of blogging or recapping a week which was pretty heavy in terms of national events. Maybe it was the winter blues settling in or my ever-increasing longing for normalcy. Maybe it was the fact that I was slightly underwater in registration paperwork (thank you – I’m grateful, not complaining!), and my creative side was a little stilted. Blogging with no purpose or direction is decidedly difficult, just like living our lives in a slight pandemic vacuum kind of is as well. I laughed when I thought about this comparison. You know how the conversations go now, “What are you doing this weekend? Oh you know. What we did last weekend. And the weekend before that.”
However, in the midst of this week, one of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s quotes really struck me and I’ve been thinking about it each day.
“If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl, but by all means, keep moving.” Maybe that’s what I’m doing in my writing this week…crawling to the finish line. Isn’t this what we all feel like we are in the midst of?
Many of you know that I’m a runner. I go short and long-distance, faster and slower, but I run enough to know that physically, I can get over the finish line. Physically speaking – I’m good. It’s the mental part of a long run, a tough run, a hilly run that can take me out, when I feel like walking (still great) or quitting (not so great). The mental game of running is the hardest part, and it is certainly the hardest part of life.
This couldn’t be more true in the authenticity of our lives right now. I talk to more people now who say that their priorities have changed. Instead of staying on top of things, they are settled with just keeping their head above water or trying to simply “catch” the balls before they fall, rather than juggle them in the air. I get it. We all feel like we can fly some days – “I made dinner and everyone ate it!”. We know we can run – “My kids went to bed and didn’t come out a gazillion times!”. Sometimes we are best at walking – “I managed to keep screen time to not all day today!”. But I ask you this – are we all just crawling to the finish line these days? Using up our last reserves, waiting for the big change, trying to remember how we did all the things we used to, when now, it seems like it’s all we can do is the little to get by. I know that seems really pessimistic of me, but I can’t imagine I’m the only one asking that question.
But there’s good news in all of this, and I find it in watching my children and in the preschoolers who grace this building each day. Children are resilient in spirit. Their energy and passion and the sheer joy they have in living each day is what helps them to just keep moving. My kids drag me over that finish line more days than I would like to admit. Don’t get me wrong. They test every inch of my being, make me question my strength, my sanity, my sources of love and patience, but really – I think it’s really the innate and innocent hope our children have and the authentic goodness and grace they bring that keeps us, as parents, to keep moving. It’s the hope I see in my kids that puts an extra pep in my step, to run, walk, or crawl to get over that finish line each day, each week…each pandemic year. Hope may be the key, parents. Not just hoping for a better tomorrow, but hope for what we have today.
Even better news – God is in this physical and mental journey with us. When I ran my marathon, blasting my music, the only song in my head I could hear in my head was, “This is the day that the Lord has made”. Later in the run, I was begging God to get me across…lol. But God provides for us in all the ways we need, and brings hope to each and every one of us. It may be hard to feel sometimes, but He is the one who picks us up when we fall, scrapes our knees when we trip, the one who holds us up when all we want to do is just collapse under the weight of it all. God gives us our wings, our legs and feet, our knees and elbows, but he gives us the resilience in his hopeful message and presence to ensure that we never quit moving. At the end of the day, parents – it doesn’t matter how we do it. We can cross that finish line for ourselves and for our children.