These days since October 10 when Hurricane Michael hit have been a challenge. Not just because of roof problems or the lack of central heating and air. Pretty much everyone down here in South Georgia has troubles. And pretty much everyone else in the rest of the country is shocked to find out that piles of trees still line the roads, homes are still damaged, and people are struggling and will be for months to come.

While the news cycle makes most disasters seem like a week or so long, that isn’t reality. Those impacted by disasters have long battles to fight and stresses that those not in the messes cannot comprehend.

And yet, even in the storm there is joy. Joy to teach. Joy to laugh. Joy to giggle over something with a friend.

I go in the teacher’s lounge and people are bringing awesome snacks for Christmas. Kids are excited about their performances. Today, some of my students were literally squealing over their newfound ability to edit in Adobe Premiere on the Mac.

Perhaps I’ve not been willing to write so much because of the microscope. While to my friends around the world, many wouldn’t know I had changed schools – people near me do. Sometimes it has felt as if every tweet or social media post was hyper-analyzed for meaning or reading things into it. So, perhaps I’ve been reticent to post or write much.

But my calling is to encourage — even when I’m struggling. Sometimes it does get to me when I get emails from people wanting a response within hours who perhaps don’t know I teach much less don’t know (or care) that my front yard looks like a construction site.

And other things in life could weigh me down. But in the end, for me, I serve an awesome God and these things shall also pass.

And along with these things… so will pass the time.

As I get older, I realize just how precious and sweet each day is in life and am eager to get the most out of each of them.

Nowadays, I get up and wash my face and brush my teeth and thank God for running water. I flip on the light in the den and thank God for electricity. Even tonight as I blog this, I’m not cold because Kip has a roaring fire in the den and I am warm.

Tomorrow is not always better than today. And yesterday is not always better than tomorrow. We cannot judge our days by our circumstances but rather, we should judge them by our joy amidst any circumstances.

For truly, life is short and the ability to find joy in the rollercoaster of life is a measure of the awesomeness of the ride.

Life is so short, so, dear friends, hold up your hands, feel the wind in your hair and decide that you’re going to let out a big old “Yaaaaaahoooooo!” for a change, will you?