Does anyone else ever feel like all of a sudden you realize that the universe has converged to tell you the same thing over and over? Like the same topic keeps coming up in conversation, on the news, in books … I’m trying harder to pay attention to these themes when I notice them. And I feel like I’ve been noticing them A LOT recently.

Today is one of those days, and I think I want to share it, even though I don’t share a lot of personal stuff on here. *Point of clarification: I like it a lot when other people publish their personal business on their blogs, but I just don’t feel comfortable doing it myself.

Anyway … today is a hard day. There’s a lot of upheaval in my life right now. My mom is getting married. I’m trying to sell my house in Springfield. I’m worrying about money and needing another job for the summer. And I’m trying to navigate the important relationships in my life in the midst of feeling very anxious. Today, for whatever reason, it has crashed in on me, and I’m not handling it very well. But life goes on. And so I have to go to school and deal with little children.

I’d already decided that I didn’t care what they did today and that I wasn’t going to let it bother me. But I have a little guy named Joshua who makes my life hard almost every day. The other day he had a giant tack, and Josh with a sharp object is my worst lunchroom nightmare. He’s always talking and making messes and making trouble. And today was no different. A few minutes after he arrived he tried to change seats, and I didn’t let him. He got really mad about it and slammed his stuff down and put his little head down on his arms. And all of a sudden I had a moment of clarity.

I went over and put my hand on his head, bent down to his level and softly said, “Are you having a hard day?” (No response.) “Because I’m having a hard day. Are you having a hard day too?” (Tiny nod.) And suddenly we had a connection. We understood each other, and could maybe help each other, even from a place of weakness. So I stood there and rubbed his back and spoke quietly to him for a few minutes until he was ready to sit up and eat. At the end of lunch, Josh had finished almost all his food, kept his place clean, and hadn’t bothered the other kids at his table.

All this seemed to go right along with an entry on Greg Boyd’s blog. It’s been the reminder I needed that everyone else is at times just as fragile as I sometimes am. I will get so much further in life by extending grace and compassion, even when I feel like I need it myself. Maybe especially when I feel like I need it myself.