Last week was a bit much.

This coronavirus situation crescendo-ing, calming my high school students, taking care of my own kids, worrying about my in-laws traveling, stressing about my fragile 98.5yo grandma, the empty store shelves, scary articles…the whole crazy-full-moon-Friday-the-13th week did me in. But I didn’t realize how stressed I was until I finally sat down on Friday to process it all.

Wednesday we were laughing at the coronavirus memes; then Thursday we were bathing in hand sanitizer and rushing to the stores.

I held out my hand to see if I was as shaky on the outside as I was on the inside. Stress reigned.

However, as my weekend unfolded…as it most often does…

Hope appeared…

You know that cup analogy that’s been told numerous times, several different ways? It’s the one where a person is holding a cup and she gets bumped. If what’s in the cup is peach ice tea, sweetness slides down the cup leaving her with sticky fingers. If sparkling water is in the cup, then when bumped, bubbles spill over the rim splashing onto the floor. What’s inside the cup is what comes out.

We’ve all been bumped this week.

However, do you know what I’ve seen spill out?

Photo by Thom Holmes on Unsplash

People shopping for their parents, their grandparents, those in need, so we can keep our most vulnerable at home.

Moms reaching out to working families to see if they can babysit their kids.

Women sharing inspirational stories, encouraging each other.

People buying gifts cards to local businesses to keep them afloat while we all wait out this storm.

Grocery store workers being patient with the masses and tirelessly restocking shelves.

Amazing people working overtime (often for free) to prepare for the worst-case scenarios: community planners, decision-makers, hospitals, cleaning staff, school districts, non-profit organizations…etc.

My sons helping me deep clean our home without complaint.

Healthcare professionals still going to work. (They are the biggest heroes in this story.)

Communities organizing free daycare at the local community center.

Teachers working behind the scenes to transfer their curriculum online because for right now schools are just canceled, but we all want to be ready to provide quality educational experiences if we continue to stay home.

Organizations mobilizing to provide extra food to those in need.

Ordinary people donating without hesitation.

And – I’m not even joking here – a friend told me a manufacturing plant in her home town sent out approximately 250 semi trucks of toilet paper instead of the 100 normal trucks. (It’s coming everyone. Toilet. Paper. Is. Coming.)

Our cups have been bumped and do you know what’s spilled out?

Love.

Everything else has been canceled.

But apparently - love hasn’t.

Love is never canceled.

Keep on being amazing, everyone.

We’ll get through this. Together.

Cheryl Donely is a high school teacher and mom to three boys. She writes faith-based encouragement for moms of tweens/teens at Empowered Moms and Kids. Subscribe to get monthly encouragement and instant access to the Empowered Moms and Kids Freebie Library. Or follow Empowered Moms and Kids on Facebook.