Through the fog

By Jeff Becraft

Recently, I have talked to our son and a couple other people who live in the western North Carolina area. Our son described taking his daughter to school each day. They have to take a road that they normally would not have taken… and along that road is down tree after down tree. They also drive past a camp. That camp was totally leveled and all you see are the foundations of the buildings.

For the other people I talked to, they described the emotions of the initial shock of the crisis being over, now you are simply living day to day in the middle of destruction and what that feels like.

We have a friend who recently had to go through radical surgery for a very rare form of cancer. She’s eight weeks past that now and in recovery and doing well but with a LONG way to go. Over the eight weeks, she described that many days felt like being in a fog. Nothing seemed to change. Progress was so slow that “all days seemed virtually the same.”

Walking through a fog can be one of the most difficult things we do in life… because everything looks the same. It doesn’t look like there’s any progress. It doesn’t look like anything is changing or is going to change.

It’s just one day after another being in a fog.

There are times in life where even the storms of life or the crises seem better or easier to deal with than the daily simply walking through a fog.

Or at least it feels that way.

In the book The Silver Chair (part of The Chronicles of Narnia series), Aslan is getting ready to send Jill on a mission. (There are too many life principles that occur in their conversation to cover in this email but today we will focus on one.) He describes for her four Signs and tells her, “Remember, remember, remember the Signs. Say them to yourself when you wake in the morning and when you lie down at night, and when you wake in the middle of the night. And whatever strange things may happen to you, let nothing turn your mind from following the Signs. And secondly, I give you a warning. Here on the mountain, I have spoken to you clearly: I will not often do so down in Narnia. Here on the mountain, the air is clear and your mind is clear; as you drop down into Narnia, the air will thicken. Take great care that it does not confuse your mind. And the signs which you have learned here will not look at all as you expect them to look, when you meet them there. That is why it’s so important to know them by heart and pay no attention to appearances. Remember the Signs and believe the Signs. Nothing else matters. And now, Daughter of Eve, farewell – ”

When the air thickens… and the fog gathers… and each day seems to just go into the next, let us remember what is true and take the next step… in that direction.

And let us walk with one another.  When the initial shock is over… a diagnosis, a loss of a loved one, a major disappointment, a storm of life… and each day seems like a fog, let’s not leave one another alone. It is then that we need to walk with one another to help one another through the fog.

Jeff Becraft is the Director of Our Place of Hope and the Director Emeritus for Youth Corps and has dedicated much of his life to helping shift the vision of people’s lives. Our Place of Hope is a paradigm shift for people living with mental illness that encourages them to regain meaning, purpose, and hope for their lives. You can connect with Jeff at  [email protected].