One unexpected silver lining of our current situation is the beautiful, creative, and encouraging content pouring through our screens. Today’s links include some of my favorite reads from the past couple of weeks, nearly all of them related to our present circumstances.
Five Ways to Approach Your Pandemic Grief, by Melissa Schlies
“Though these comparisons can give us perspective, allowing them to diminish our own pain and sadness is counterproductive. Just because someone is carrying a heavier load, doesn’t mean our load isn’t difficult. In fact, naming and grieving our pain will better enable us to have empathy for others.”
Here’s How Those Hot Jigsaw Puzzles Are Made, by Amie Tsang
“Each puzzle piece must be uniquely shaped, to avoid one accidentally fitting into the wrong place. That means 1,000 different shapes for a 1,000-piece puzzle, each drawn by hand by workers. Before a puzzle is cut for the first time, each piece is sketched on a sheet of paper draped over the finished image. Pieces of metal are then shaped to form an elaborate cookie cutter made just for that jigsaw puzzle; it takes about four weeks to build one.”
My Faith Is What’s Helping Me Get Through This Pandemic, by Stephanie L. King
“Once I decided where I would hold God’s Scripture in my life—front and center—I began to look at each passage of the Bible differently. Now, that has helped me understand that this novel coronavirus doesn’t get the final say; God does. That even if I cannot see it or fully comprehend it, God is working out all things for a greater good. And it’s possible some things aren’t even meant for me to fully grasp on this side of eternity.”
Advice for a New Homeschooling Mom: 33 Things I’ve Learned in 25 Years of Homeschooling, by Tricia Goyer
“It all comes down to eternity. Someday your children will stand before God. Don’t neglect the heart stuff to get the book stuff done. Remember the only thing vital is that they learn to love Jesus and love others. Everything else is secondary.”
When a Virus Persecutes the Church, by Joy Vetterlein
“I don’t know what’s all going to happen, and I wouldn’t say I’m glad for this. But I am suspicious that God is at work here. There’s something that smells an awful lot like Holy Spirit leaking through my livestream and my instagram feed and my heart. He seems to be on the move, roaming and mingling with the pain and panic, and leaving behind gifts in his wake. There’s a newness, and a grit, and a determination with a fresh understanding of what he’s really like. The power of the Spirit to bind us even when we aren’t together—what a gift for a church in this fractured time.”
5 common triggers for highly sensitive people, and 5 antidotes to help them survive social distancing, by Anne Bogel
“Taking in lots of information in a short period of time makes HSPs feel overwhelmed. So when my HSP kids say they’re struggling learning how to navigate entirely new ways of doing school from home, with new platforms, new assignments, and new rules—of course they are. This kind of thing is hard for anyone, and even more so for the highly sensitive.”
Is It Selfish, Shallow, or Frivolous to Worry About Our Own State of Mind During a Time of World Crisis?, by Gretchen Rubin
“Now, at a time like this, it’s not possible to be happy. It’s a terrible time of global catastrophe. That’s the reality. But we can all take steps, within our own situation, to be as happy, and calm, and energetic, as we can be, under our own circumstances. And by doing so, we help ourselves to weather this crisis more effectively, and we also strengthen ourselves to be more helpful to others and our community—now, and in the days to come.”
What Works Better Than Worry, by Holly Gerth
“Worry is seductive because it feels like control. If we are worrying, then we must be taking action. We must be turning the tide. But this is only a distraction and deception. It’s a shiny object for us to chase to keep us from going to the One who can actually get it done. When I realize this, it doesn’t feel like a rebuke; it feels like a relief. Jesus, in all His gentleness and kindness, His extravagant mercy and care, has taken the boulder from my hands and said, ‘It doesn’t depend on you.'”
What is the best thing you stumbled across on the Internet this week? Feel free to drop a link in the Comments.