Brightreflectionsblog
March 22, 2020
Psalm 46:1 and10
“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
” Be still, and know that I am God”
Good morning to all: Pastor and Charlene, Bible Study Groups, Prayer Retreat Group, and fellow companions along God’s Pathway of Life.
I have been spending my time since this pandemic started, reading more, praying more, and thinking about how God wants us to act in times like these.
I read a poem by Richard Hendrick from Donegal, Ireland that really spoke to me and to the situation we are in. It goes like this:
Lockdown
Yes there is fear
But there does not have to be hate.
Yes there is isolation
But there does not have to be loneliness.
Yes there is panic buying
But there does not have to be meanness.
Yes there is sickness
But there does not have to be disease of the soul.
Yes, there is even death
But there can always be a rebirth of love.
Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.
Today breathe.
Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic.
The birds are singing again.
The sky is clearing.
Spring is coming.
And we are always encompassed by love.
Open the windows of your soul.
And though you may not be able to touch
Across the empty square,
Sing!
This poem made me think of all the ways God has truly blessed our land and the people living
here. We are free to make our own choices; We are free to move around from place to place;
We are free to speak to others and voice our opinions; We are free to worship where we want to worship; We are free because God has blessed this land and has blessed us. I see this poem as telling us we all have choices we can make to live the life that our Father wants us to live. We have the opportunity now to truly study his word, slow down, and learn how to become more and more like Jesus, our Lord and Savior.
Dan Barcus, one of my Charis Spiritual Directors, posted on Facebook that “Endings are always beginnings. Think of your life story as a circle instead of a straight line and you will see why”.
The picture above is my own “Soul Picture”, the story of my own life. It is a circle and there are always new beginnings. I thought about my past year as an example of this circle of my life. I was having a difficult time juggling all the responsibilities I had in my life. I admit, some of the activities were not really necessary and God showed me this. He also has showed me that if I don’t clear my own schedule and make time for him, he will keep after me until I listen to him. This past year of sickness, pain and surgery has given me the time to make choices like:
to either follow him or not follow him, to rely on his love and strength and power or rely on
myself. I learned to live by the scripture in Psalm 46:10, “to be still and know that he is God”.
Many nights of sleeplessness helped me learn to think about what I was asking him for in my
life: were my requests based on the Word and “HIS desires” for me OR were they based on
what “I” wanted. Focusing on His own walk and His death on a cross (for me), helped me focus on not asking him to take away the pain, but help me live and walk through the pain. If He could suffer the death on a cross, with Him by myside I could bear the pain I was suffering. I understood my situation, saw it in the light of His life, and I can say I have truly become closer to Him.
God has cleared all of our schedules now! We have the time to truly listen to what he has to
say! Will we take the time? When we ask the Lord, to calm our racing thoughts and our spirits so that we can hear his still, small voice in this noisy world, we can begin a new circle of our own lives. We can begin our new life like the poem by Christine Valters Paintner, Abby of the Arts says:
When this has passed
may we say
that love spread more quickly
than any virus ever could.
May we say this was
not just an ending
but also a place to begin.
Blessings to you all this beautiful Sunday evening. May you find comfort, strength, and love in your life today.
In Christ’s Service,
Kay Brightwell
Copyright 2020, Kay Brightwell, All Rights Reserved
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