These saplings remind me that there is a much bigger, longer and often slower plan of healing in God’s world. In my hyperactive, instant gratification, impatient, I want it now, and I want it my way world, I can clearly see that God’s rhythm, God’s timing, God’s healing may take time. God’s faithfulness has been slow to reveal itself visibly in this high country. 20 years of revealing to get through this thick and stubborn skull!
So how about you? Back to our Covid world of September 2020? What are you grieving? What have you lost? What are you mourning? What death have you witnessed? Hugging? Handshaking? Visiting and hugging your mom in the nursing home? Face to face interactions at work? Football games? Your job? Concerts? Worship? Going to the theater? Travel? A sense of security? Income? Hockey tournaments? Retreats?
Our lives of late feel like this strange amalgam of uncertainty, being on hold, out of sorts, awkward and in flux. Like we’re waiting impatiently for all of this to be over. We want a cure and we want it now! Let’s get rid of these stupid masks! Then we can get back to life as we knew it, back to “normal.”
But wait, do we really want to return to “normal” as we knew it? Return if you will to the quote of the council member at the beginning. Do we really want to return to the hectic, over-scheduled, hyper-active, busyness, hamster wheel of our “normal” lives? I don’t.
We are all experiencing loss, grief and death of some sort through all of this. Maybe our prayers need to be more along the lines of; “Lord, from these ashes, from this death and decay of Covid, grow in me newness of life. Let me cast aside that which is old, useless and fluff. Let the false idols of hyper busyness fall away and die in my life. From these remains, grow in and through me vibrant life that counts, that matters, that makes a difference in our world. Give me new priorities, ones that align with your will.”
And help us to be patient. Help us to know that God’s timing is longer, wiser and better for us. Help us to be patient with ourselves, with others, and the world around us. God is still in charge. Death does not have the last say. Life wins.
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