Sectional Healing 11/17: Rebuking the Abyss...

This newsletter hears a lot about sinners...

Nov 18, 2020

WRITE SECTION

MAN Y’ALL. I’ve been staring at this space for 47 hours and trying to write something that doesn’t drift into the bleak and dreary. I don’t know if I’m uniquely burnt out or if we’re all in this space of being a different kind of broken as a result of, you know, EVERYTHING.

I will say, the thing I’ve been thinking a lot about lately is how I’m letting 2020 affect me.

A little bit about me, KnoxYourBoi, in any given season, I like to self-scout and assess at what I’m doing well (idk maybe sleeping and hydrating?) versus what I’m not doing well (lol just, like, most everything else?) and my conclusion is that I’m not writing enough about good, hopeful, or frivolous things, which is ACTUALLY my lane.

Obviously, the reason for this is because a) there is not a surplus of good, hopeful, and frivolous news right now and b) to look away from some of the uglier aspects of 2020 feels disrespectful or freighted with a kind of obliviousness that we can’t afford right now.

BUT. I think I’ve steeping myself so much in the bad that I’ve lost the ability to appreciate the good.*

*(FootNOTE: Please hear me: I know I must be leading a very charmed life if I can even self-reflect to be like, “You guys, I just don’t want to think about tough things anymore!” but hopefully the point of what I’m trying to say remains.)

The other day, I had my two daughters in the car with me and they were bickering about something dumb because I’m discovering that’s how sisters seem to get down. Wars are waged by thousands and millions of passive aggressive verbal slights to each other before it ever gets physical.

I was tired of hearing the fighting and grumbling about each other so I said, “THAT IS IT AND ALSO ENOUGH. You both now have to tell me one of your favorite memories of all time so we can talk about something good instead of just whining.”

Mind you, this isn’t my case for Father of the Year; I was just so tired of having to referee that I wanted a respite and hoped a distraction would do the trick.

To my shock, both thought about their answers for a moment and then they proceeded to reveal two really beautiful and specific memories that I’d long forgotten.

For me, this was a lovely reminder that good can still be found in bad and even more, that I should be vigilant and intentional about seeking it out, lest I lose myself to the bleak, to the dreary and to my own whining about everything in between.

Rebuking the abyss is good, but celebrating joy and hope is better.