Everything is green again.
The birds have been singing and flitting about at a feverish pace.
Squirrels are scurrying across lawns, leaping up trees and chasing across my roof.
The bunnies are hopping about at dawn and dusk, driving the dogs in the neighborhood crazy.
Neighbors are trimming trees, landscaping, gardening and taking strolls.
Kids are playing outside, riding bikes, skateboards, scooters and hover boards.
Spring fever is in the air. Hay fever is the air.
This week has been spring break for the Plano kids. Next week is spring break for Garland kids and my grand kids. Because I teach aquatic fitness for the City of Plano, I've had no water classes this week. I've still worked at Milestone, but mostly from home this week. I get to do that
sometimes.
Unfortunately, as seems to happen almost every spring break, I've been under the weather with a sinus infection. Sinus infections are insidious. They sneak up on you. A headache or two, then fatigue. You wonder why you're dragging your feet, why you're tired.
Suddenly, one afternoon, you're utterly exhausted, your face hurts, the glands in your neck and under your jaw are painfully swollen, and you have trouble sleeping that night. It's the next morning when you look in the mirror and a raccoon is staring back at you that you know what's plaguing you.
One of my duties is cleaning a couple days of the week, but I was able to rearrange my schedule to work on writing and marketing from my home office. I've put in my hours. I've been productive. Just not doing much physical activity, since I feel exhausted if I do.
I'm coated in vapor rub. Drinking herbal teas. Breathing steam. Taking Tylenol for my headaches and facial pain. I purchased a flushing syringe to help unclog my ears and rinse my sinuses. I have nose strips to help me inhale the vapor rub at night.
Yet, I feel like I'm playing hooky from school! Is this the echos of the Ghost of Spring Fevers past? Or, is this the nagging guilt that I'm not doing enough, being productive enough, being helpful enough? Maybe, it's not guilt, but the ingrained conviction that unless I'm working hard, physically and mentally, I'm not working.
There's also the mom factor. For years we moms are on duty 24/7, even when we're sick, on vacation, sleeping, in the bathroom, in the middle of a project, we rally to the call of duty. Just because I'm a grandmother doesn't mean that programming isn't still active or necessary. When one of my kids calls or comes by, I'm mom.
I guess there's a multitude of programming that play into this restlessness and spurious guilt. It all boils down: Matthew 6:34 - "So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of it's own." & Mark 6:31 - "Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he (Jesus) said to them (the disciples), "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest."
These two verses are among many in the Bible that speak of the destructiveness or pointlessness of worry, and the need for rest: including one of the ten commandments about honoring the Sabbath day. The Sabbath is a day of rest from everyday labors and a day of fellowship and trust in the Lord--alone or with others seeking to do the same.
Laziness is idleness when things must be done now, and being disinclined to exert yourself or put forth any effort in a productive manner.
Rest is a necessary scheduled break for my health and well-being--and yes, when I'm resting, it is okay to be totally lazy. I don't have to do a thing. I can - and probably should - sleep all day if I choose.
So can you. So don't worry, rest easy, and be lazy once in a while--it's not only okay--but a prescription for a well-balanced life.
Have a blessed and lazy day!
Lori Vidak
