What We are to Learn in the Waiting
I seek solace in our backyard. Space and time away from the noise and from my precious family who I love dearly, yet who seem to be all around. All. The. Time. During these days of COVID-19, I find myself in a place of constant serving and encouraging. I wake up and our days are a repeat of the one before. It is like being trapped in the film, “Groundhog Day,” but this is real life and not nearly as comical.
My mind is consumed with disquieting thoughts. I am determined to keep rhythms and peace in our home. I am determined to protect my family in the simple ways that I can which include cooking from our pantry and avoiding stores. I am determined to seek beauty and create a sense of normalcy. I am consumed by such simple ways of living, some of which were barely a factor of life merely a few weeks ago.
We are all a bit restless and unsettled. The news gets more grim and I try to avoid social media, sticking to instagram because I tell myself that it’s just pictures on instagram. Pictures of people enjoying their families, enjoying yummy meals and simple daily living. Yet, behind the smiles there are uncertain fears, behind the meals are masks at the grocery store, behind daily living is daily sacrifice.
I praise God because most of us aren’t sacrificing our lives. I praise God for the doctors and nurses who are indeed sacrificing their lives.
Many of us are sacrificing normal.
“Gratitude and Praise is my link to both grace and peace. ”
In order to keep peace in our homes during this time full of pressure and pain and so much unknown, I remember gratitude and praise.
Gratitude and praise is my link to both grace and peace.
The apostles many times began letters with the phrase, “Grace and peace to you.” In those years of persecution, pandemics, plagues and pestilence, the believers greeted each other in such a way to remind one another that no matter the pressures they were facing, Jesus brought grace and peace to their hearts. Grace undeserved, for all situations and peace that passes all understanding.
During these days I soak my home with praise and gratitude. When we sit down at a meal, we pray with a deeper gratitude than ever before. As I walk the aisles of the grocery store, though some shelves may be bare, we are no living in a barren land and for that I am grateful. My husband employed upstairs works hard because our God continues to provide work in this uncertain economy. In my gratitude I turn to Jesus and know that even if the economy crumbles and if the work ends, I trust my God to provide as he has done throughout history and as he has done throughout my story, for he is faithful.
My children continue in their studies and we pour over scriptures because for such a time as this, our days must begin and end with his presence and his purpose.
We move toward rhythms of daily living. Breakfast, bible study and prayer, work, lunch as a family, reading and daily walks, playtime, dinner and conversations and then sleep. Day after day little changes. The rhythms are like anchors during these long days. These rhythms steady us.
“No matter how I try, protection is not in my control, for it is not a part of my purpose, but a part of His power. ”
I wake daily and ask God to lift my burdens, to share the weight of the my world with me and to teach me how to walk in his ways, his “unforced rhythms of grace,” Matthew 11:29 MSG. Life becomes a routine. A quiet simple dance as he leads me from day to day.
I desire to protect those I love, but I realize my purpose is not for protection in these days. Instead I am purposed in patience. I am to trust and wait on the Lord. No matter how I try, protection is not in my control, for it is not a part of my purpose, but a part of His power. My God is a shield that surrounds us. I cry to the Lord with my voice and he hears me and he protects us with a shield.
His love, his work and his ways surround me. I wait on the Lord and trust his word.
In all these things the Lord is moving and working in my life and the lives of all of us believers. We must learn to abide and be still.
