Labor Day weekend in New York is supposed to be a celebration. Everyone gets a day off of work and school and spends their days enjoying the very last of Summer. These three days of freedom are intended to be spent outdoors, soaking up the sun before the time has come for scarves and boots.
I am very much inside today.
If there is such a thing as a black cloud, I'm pretty sure I need an umbrella. The order of the universe has aligned itself such that a slew of unfortunate events has come upon me so as to ruin my long weekend. No going out to meet friends for drinks. No church service gatherings. None of that stuff that was planned is going to go down this long weekend because it can't.
On Monday morning, I woke up and I was too tired to go in to work. That's the first time I have ever called out of my job. I had been burning the candle at both ends (excuse the threadbare phrase, but there is a literal candle on my desk, I felt an obligation to it's inspiration) and I just couldn't muster the will power. The night before, I was strolling down 34th street to the Manhattan Center for a special church service taking place that night and I stepped on something. It hurt. I took my boot off to find that my foot was actually bleeding. After some serious effort on behalf of my family and friends at church to calm me, I was able to get past it. But, it was scary and I tend to take unfortunate events way too literally. As in, I stepped on a piece of metal and the cosmos are attacking me. (In my defense, I really don't have an up to date tetanus shot. Could it have been a needle? I don't know.)
So, I called out. I did. Intending to spend the day catching my breath, I woke up, poured my self a cup of coffee, and just when I thought it was safe to call it a good day, all hell broke loose in my apartment's bathroom. We almost flooded the whole place. That took another three days to be fixed. Strategically timing your pees to places like school and work is really difficult in NYC, what with the long commutes and all.
Friday finally arrives, as it does, and I couldn't wait to spend the weekend relaxing, catching up on grad school, and going out with friends. Nope. I literally fell in a hole whilst walking down the street just 1 block and a half shy of my building! That hole was out for blood, it was. I took a tumble, many people came running (Brooklynites are very nice...don't let anyone convince you otherwise,) and it was truly a scene. By morning, there was a lump the size of a tennis ball on my ankle. The urgent care doctor calls it a "metatarsal fracture" and bad ankle sprain. A soft cast has been applied and I have a follow up with the bone doctor next week.
As I lay in my bed looking at my pretty art, I wonder when the wind will come and blow this black cloud away, bringing some welcome sunshine.
Philippians 4:6
Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.
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