Growing up, I often heard my grandmother mutter these words, “They great day,” in response to something that either shocked her or upset her.
After Hurricane Irma ravaged our home, the first day Terry and I were allowed back in to survey the damage, I was rendered speechless. As I looked at chunks of trees laying everywhere with the trees completely uprooted, for the first time in my life, my body’s response was to mutter the words, “They great day.”
I have never before spoken those three words, and have not, since, said, “They great day.” I don’t even know what it means other than finding yourself in a total state of shock. But it was far from a great day. It was a heart wrenching day. Terry and I had worked so very hard doing the landscaping ourselves, and it had all been destroyed. Brick pavers had been torn from the ground and thrown through windows. It was destruction, chaos and a reminder of what seemed like insurmountable work ahead of us.
Today, I don’t know what to say. I am heartbroken for our nation. Devastated.
This nastiness has got to stop.
We are doing to one another what Hurricane Irma did to our home. Destroying.
But let me tell you something. Terry and I sold our home in January, and it was more beautiful than ever. We worked our tails off, for two and a half years, to rebuild it. It was exhausting, and there were so many evenings I would get in the shower and just stand there, and cry. I wanted us to live our lives, not work our bodies to death, rebuilding. I wanted to go to Tahiti, and have more date nights and have the luxury of sitting at my laptop and working a full day of work, “writing” rather than literally rebuilding our home, pulling muscles and nearly breaking bones in the process.
But let me tell you something else. Terry and I built an even more beautiful, stronger marriage in the process. With hammers, drills and serious heavy lifting … we made our home stronger, better and more beautiful. Side by side, day in and day out, we saw one another not just as partners, but having each other’s back for all the heavy lifting. When we felt alone in the work we were doing, we realized we had so much in one another. Like I said, the house was more beautiful than it was before the hurricane.
I believe we can do that, now, with America. Call me naive, but I still believe it. I think it’s going to take work that feels insurmountable, but isn’t. “They great day.”
It isn’t going to be easy. We have an awful lot of work to do, and some nasty, ugly messes to clean. I still think we can make our country even more beautiful than it was. If we start listening more and asking questions about things we do not understand … then being ready to hear the answers; I believe we can make things more beautiful than ever.
We need to hear and speak truth.
It is going to take a lot of work. A lot of heavy lifting, a lot of sweat, and a lot of painful days and nights ahead. We aren’t going to get to do the fun things we want to do, because we need to do the hard work that needs to be done. And I very much believe it will be worth it.
But I can’t think of anything I would rather rebuild, than our friendships, our relationships and our country.
“Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” - John 8:31-32 (NLT)