Three Things: Small Mercies

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I have had a rough couple of weeks. You may know this from my last post. I also mentioned how I felt as though God has been teaching me things through allowing me experience hard things. I wrote about some of the challenges of the past few weeks. Today I want to pay attention to three of the ways that I feel God has helped me through this week. Each day I have sensed that although it has been very wearisome and hard God has given me small merciful gifts to help keep me sane. In this post I want to focus on three of those things. Some of them are quite small, but gave me a lot of encouragement. 

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1. Tiny Gestures of Kindness From Friends: 

I have a very sweet support system of friends and family. My roommate Hannah made me an egg one morning. That blew my socks off, even though she didn't realise at the time how much it meant to me. I meant so much, because it just gave me an extra few minutes to get ready for the day and help me to feel prepared for everything. Other gestures included Sheldon coming to make me dinner, Leya working out with me, another friend Lisa sending me a tiny package in the mail for my birthday. All of the things contributed to make me feel loved and supported. 

2. The Stormy Fall Weather: 

"I just wish the weather wasn't like this. I hate it. I want the sun to come out."

"Hmm. Well, I love it."

This was a brief exchange I had with a gentleman from my math class. I got defensive about the weather because I feel so good when the air is crisp and blustering. I love grey and stormy skies with bright leaves. I think I am not the only artistic person out there who feels like this. Fall weather, especially rainy fall weather, makes me feel creative and brooding. I love to feel melancholic. Are you worried that in my already dark frame of mind I am revelling too much in this? Perhaps, but I believe that rather than feeding my sad mood it is actually helping alleviate some of my anxiety. 

3. My Shakespeare Books Came in the Mail: 

My grandparents gave me a gift for my birthday, which I used to buy the entire Yale Edition Shakespeare collection. I have long coveted these small blue cloth bound books. I first encountered them when an elderly family friend passed away. Their possessions were being packed into boxes and I found the blue books in one of them. I borrowed one while we stayed with the friends and returned it to the box at the end of our stay. Since then I have borrowed them from the library on numerous occasions only to be sad to part with them in the end. There are few books which I feel a strong desire to own. I enjoy having access to books, but I am usually fine with that access being through the library. But I wanted these books to be mine. They came a few days ago, but I have been so hurried and busy that I have not been able to pick them up at the post. This evening I finally had a spare moment. It was the perfect time for them to come, because it was right after a very hard day at work. I loved unpacking book after book until all 40 stood on my table like a blue tower. 

I hope you are well, People. I hope that you have been able to find some good things throughout the days that are difficult. That is kind of one of the inspirations for this series--I wanted a time during my week when I could reflect on small joys. 

Love,

Lucy Rose