What Are We Doing Today?

Over the course of quarantine, I’m sure this question has taken on new meaning. Until very recently the answer was almost always, “the same thing we did yesterday: stay home to stay healthy.” In the before time however, we filled our days with activities to the point that saying you were super busy became cliché. As we look forward to a future beyond quarantine, we need to make a choice of what habits we hang on to and what we need to leave behind.

Millions of people realized the benefits of working remotely. That meeting that should have been an email was finally just an email! Let’s keep that. That long arduous commute twice a day, let’s leave that behind. I’m sure there are any number of habits we have picked up over the last six months, and now is the time to start examining which of them we want to keep. A general all-day graze instead of meals, probably not the best choice. Never dressing above your favorite athleisure wear might be a problem unless your workplace is cool.

Now these are funny examples, but as Christians we are called to one thing in the way we live our lives. Will what I am doing benefit the cause of Christ? Does the way I live tell the people around me that I am living for something greater. 

In Acts 20:35 Paul says, “In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” If you are a mature Christian, I pray that you took the extra time during quarantine to dive into God’s word, to encourage your brother or sister who might be younger in the faith, and have prayed for those that must make very hard decisions.

If not, there is no better time to start than right now. The wheels are starting to spin again, and when they get going it will be easy to just fall into that old routine of being “busy” all the time. Let’s make the world we return to better than the one we left.

Grist for the Malady Mill

Matthew 5:44-45 “…I say to you, ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45so that you may be sons and daughters of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.’”

This is a passage of scripture that is a lot easier to quote than it is to apply to our own lives. If you are a mature Christian it is easy to see this written with red letters in your Bible, meaning that Jesus said it, and implicitly agree. When coming into contact with the words of Jesus it is difficult to build a strong case for going against what was said. The issue comes up when we recognize that Jesus doesn’t just want implicit agreement. Jesus wants us to live this out with our lives.

As far as “things Jesus asked of Christians” goes, this one is pretty high up on the difficulty scale. There is a reason we consider another person our enemy (in our increasingly divided world I hope your reasons for seeing someone as an enemy at least go deeper than their political affiliation). An enemy is someone that has personally wronged you in some way, and in feeling that hurt from being wronged Jesus asks us to do the hardest thing. Love that person in spite of what they have done.

Jesus gives us this command because he knows that being human is a struggle. I think that’s why he points out the rain and the sun, the best people and the worst people are still subject to things that are outside of their control. This pandemic is a great example, no one got to skip the disruption of quarantine because they were more just than someone else.

Knowing that we are all going to get rained on from time to time should help us pause when we want to trash “an enemy.” Part of the human condition is bad times, times we wish we could skip, but those bad times help us to more fully appreciate the good times. We can all think of someone we have considered an enemy. 

Right now, take a moment, say a prayer for your heart or theirs, and at the very least wish you wished them well.

Peace

John 14:27 - Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 

In John 14 Jesus is telling the disciples that He is not always going to be with them, but they shouldn’t worry because he will send the Holy Spirit. At this point, many of the disciples have been following Jesus for years, to hear he is going away is devastating. They had plans and a vision for what the future was going to look like. I think this is something we’ve all experienced in 2020.

Right now, I think that many people would agree that stress levels might be at an all-time high. Along with the normal family stuff, school is starting, it’s an election year, and thousands of people are dying across our country and the world because we just can’t seem to shake this global pandemic. As all this worry washes over us, and at times threatens to wash us away, I pray that we are able to cling to God our rock and our salvation.

There are times when we want to give into our baser instincts and lash out. And though it would make us feel so much better in the moment, the damage it would do to our relationships is just not worth it. It is in times like this that we must pour our hearts out to God. When the world feels as though it is crashing down around us, we can share our troubles with the one who has overcome the world. 

Jesus died on the cross so that we might know peace, though not peace as the world would define it. This is the long abiding peace that passes all understanding. The peace that comes with the Christian’s long-view. Things may not be going the way I want them to now, but my faith assures me that God is in control and in that I can find peace.

Stress is going to happen. If it isn’t one thing it’ll probably be another, but when it happens let not your hearts be troubled, for Jesus has given you peace hold on to.

Carousels

Do you have music that transports you? It may be a song you haven’t heard in years, but as soon as you hear the melody you are taken back to your high school best friend’s car, you’re at that party, or any of a number of places that made an impact on your life. Our brains are super weird and hold on to some of the most seemingly random things. And because of this, we often we have a hard time remembering, all the things we should remember and a hard time forgetting all the things we would like to forget.

In Philippians Paul gives us some great advice on where we should focus our thoughts, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Philippians 4:8)

In our modern age, it seems like the world around us is travelling as fast as possible away from this advice. The 24-hour news cycle exists because people want the dirt! If it bleeds it leads. And many times, we don’t even care about the source. This is especially true in an election year. I don’t think I can remember a period in my lifetime when candidates were running campaigns of mutual respect. It seems like every other headline is saying, “candidate X eats babies.” And if you support candidate X you’ll spend the next 2 hours researching a rebuttal, and if you don’t like candidate X you’ll just think to yourself, “I knew it!”

This is the time that we need to use our self-awareness, and as Paul says in 2 Corinthians, take every thought captive. If it is not honorable don’t engage with it. Add some loveliness to the world. If someone is going read or hear words that come from you let them be commendable. Christians are the people of hope, and when we forget that we take a little bit of light out of the world.

How can you be that song that reminds people of better times? Find those thoughts that are worthy of praise and think about these things.

Here Comes The Rain Again

Psalm 57:1-3
Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,
    for in you my soul takes refuge;
in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,
    till the storms of destruction pass by.
I cry out to God Most High,
    to God who fulfills his purpose for me.
He will send from heaven and save me;
    he will put to shame him who tramples on me. 
God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness!

Last week we had a pretty bad storm, for about 3 hours. The wind was in a frenzy, rain was falling sideways, branches and debris were falling, and many of us had to hunker down for a sweaty night with no power. This was by no means some storm-of-the-century event, but it did cause a few problems and a respectable amount of distress. 

Things feel weird when the power goes out. How many times did you walk into a room and reflexively reach for a light switch knowing full well it was going to do nothing? Most storms don’t cause any problems and the ones that do rarely rise above the level of minor annoyance: that thing I wanted to do/watch is cancelled, or my kids have to play inside all day. Every once in a while, though, the big storms hit.

Where do you turn when those storms, that are usually minor inconveniences, truly interrupt your life? Too often we see God as someone we turn to in case of emergency. We can be all too content to coast along until something goes wrong and we turn to Him and say, “why do all these bad things happen to me?” When the truth is, God wants to be with you in the good times and hard times.

We need to practice leaning into God in our wonderful days, so we know how to do it when the storms come. Let God be our refuge and our safe place. So, when the storms come, we know where to turn to for hope. We can turn to Him.

God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness!

Beggars

In the Gospels one miracle Jesus carries out multiple times is that of curing the blind. It makes sense because we have all had times when we have needed someone else to open our eyes to something we cannot see on our own. Maybe it’s (in love) pointing out a bad habit or how you always mispronounce a word—things you would never if it hadn’t been brought to your attention. 

One example is found in Mark 10, when Jesus heals Blind Bartimaeus. Jesus, his disciples, and a large crowd were traveling through Jericho. As they were leaving a beggar calls from the side of the road, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mark 10:47). Depending on how long the crowd had been with Jesus, they had probably seen him do any number of miracles at this point. However, when this blind beggar called out for help, Mark tells us, “many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.”

We don’t know why they rebuked him, my guess is that it had become almost instinct to ignore and shout down someone in such a low position. How many times have you not even heard what a homeless person said before you lied about not having any cash? Thankfully this blind beggar was undaunted by the people shouting him down, “he cried out all the more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’”

Bartimaeus just wanted to get closer to Jesus because he knew that Jesus could save him from the fate of being lost and blind. In this time there was no braille and no ADA, if you lost your sight it was up to your family to care for you, and if they didn’t have the means you were on the street as a blind beggar. Jesus was his only hope.

Jesus hears him and calls him over, Bartimaeus springs up, makes his way to Jesus, and says, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” Jesus replies, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way. Rather than shout down a beggar asking for help Jesus interrupts his travel to help him. How different would the world be if Christians took seriously the example of Christ. We may not be able to heal the blind with a word, nevertheless we are able to interrupt our day to see and spend time with another human being.

Summer Was a Mistake

Daniel 2:20-23 - “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,
    to whom belong wisdom and might.
21 He changes times and seasons;
    he removes kings and sets up kings;
he gives wisdom to the wise
    and knowledge to those who have understanding;
22 he reveals deep and hidden things;
    he knows what is in the darkness,
    and the light dwells with him.
23 To you, O God of my fathers,
    I give thanks and praise,
for you have given me wisdom and might,
    and have now made known to me what we asked of you,
    for you have made known to us the king's matter.”

Someone told me recently that they love summer and sitting outside in the heat and the sun. I told them that their opinion was wrong. I am not a huge fan, unless there is a beach and an ocean, the temperature rarely needs to crest 78 for me to be happy and comfortable. Whether it’s months of the year or times of life, I’m sure we can all think of seasons we’d like to move faster, or just skip all together.

We are probably in one of those seasons right now. The world we live in is a stark contrast to the one we were in this time last year: vacations have been modified or cancelled, going to the store takes preparation and planning, and on top of wallets, keys, and phones we now need to remember masks. For most of us, this season has been really hard. And it is okay to grieve or be a little bummed out about how the world looks these days.

In this disappointment and grief, we can always have hope because we know that seasons change, and that God is in control. For some, this has been the hardest few months of their life, and though it’s hard to imagine, for some this has been the best. As the people of hope I pray that we can weep with those who weep, but also rejoice with those who rejoice. If your current season is a good one, I pray that you can encourage people even if it is from afar. If your current season is a hard one, I pray that you are able to hold on to your hope for a better future. 

Seasons change.

More Grace Than I Thought

Hebrews 4:14-16 - 14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

I don’t know about you but these days I feel like I need to reach deeper and deeper to find this grace. We have financial instability, racial tension, civil unrest, a global pandemic, and it is too hot outside. All this is on top of the normal stress that comes from caring for and being available to your loved ones. When it feels like the world is crashing down around you it is easy for us to lose our grasp on that peace that passes all understanding.

With the introduction of social distancing to our lives it has become increasingly easy to feel lonely and isolated. And while we are distant from our friends and family it can also at times make us feel distant from God. Thankfully this is a one-sided experience, as God is never far from you. God loves and supports those He calls His own.

We do not serve some far away savior who knows nothing of the struggle we call life on Earth. Jesus took on our form, He lived as one of us, so he understands our troubles and our weakness. We serve a God who loves us enough to experience all the lows that humanity has to offer. I’m pretty sure we can all think of a few lows of humanity that we would choose to skip given the option: losing a job, going to the DMV, eating cilantro (maybe that one’s just me). 

It is in these times, when we are facing the lows of our humanity that we need to draw confidently towards our Lord and savior. So that we may receive mercy and find grace. Our times of need aren’t going away. Thankfully God’s grace isn’t going either. 

Our Refuge

Psalm 62:5-8 – 

5 For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
    for my hope is from Him.
6 He only is my rock and my salvation,
    my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
7 On God rests my salvation and my glory;
    my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

8 Trust in him at all times, O people;
    pour out your heart before him;
    God is a refuge for us.

I think a safe refuge is something we would all like to find these days: the pandemic, the protests, the political fighting, and it is hot outside. In times like this, when we are weary and stressed out, where do we turn? All we want is relief from the patterns of this world, but we usually just settle for a distraction. Don’t get me wrong, there are times that a small problem could be solved by a small distraction, however the soul-aching problems of our lives won’t be fixed by watching another episode of The Office (granted the dinner party episode might come close).

Seriously though, when we face those times in life that it feels the whole world is conspiring against us, we need to look to the one who has overcome the world. This is not easy. We want tangible instructions: this is step one, followed by step two, and finally all my stress is gone. If it takes more than three steps, you might as well tell me it’s impossible. Sadly, sometimes our instructions look more like this: wait.

We don’t know what exactly we are waiting for, but we can trust the one who gave us the instruction. When our ultimate refuge is in God, He is our rock and our salvation, and we can trust that all the stress and uncertainty in the world doesn’t sway Him. Feel your feelings, stress and uncertainty are going to be a part of your life. And when you are in that place of being overwhelmed share that with God, He wants to hear from you His beloved.

We have hope even in uncertainty, even when it means we wait.

Flavor of the Weak

Judges 6:11-13 - 11 Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty one of valor.” 13 And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

Gideon’s original claim to fame was that he was the weakest person from the weakest family from the weakest tribe. However, God saw him and said, “that he is the perfect person to put my plan into action.” This weakest of the weak would go on to liberate Israel from their oppressors the Midianites. And by recognizing Gideon’s weakness we can recognize God’s strength.

When we first meet Gideon he’s literally hiding in a hole. An angel of the Lord comes to him and says, “the Lord is with you.” Rather than being comforted or inspired Gideon replies, “Oh yeah then why’s all this bad stuff happening?”

How often is this our attitude? A few things start going wrong and our response is that God has clearly abandoned us. We can list hundreds of times that God has blessed us or come through for us in the past, but trouble comes and we suddenly feel the need to say, “yeah, well what have you done for me lately?”

It is times like this that we need to reprioritize what is most important to us. We need to remind ourselves that the love God has for us will never leave us or forsake us. The hard times will come, unfortunately, that’s almost guaranteed. And when they do, I hope that you can use them to lean into God. I had a professor who used to say, “the way God has provided for you in the past is a pattern and a promise of how he will provide for you in the future.” We just need the patience to see it fulfilled.

Welcome to Summer Vacation

About 3 weeks after I completed the fourth grade, I broke my ankle. I’ll spare you the gory details, suffice to say it my foot went a direction that the rest of my leg didn’t agree with. It hurt. A lot. I screamed. A lot. This was also probably the last time my mom ever carried me as she loaded me into the car to go to the hospital—thanks adrenaline. 

The hospital confirmed my brokenness and told me that I would need a cast that went up to my mid-thigh to ensure proper healing and immobilization. If you’ve ever had to wear a cast, then you know that it is the worst! Walking with crutches is awkward, bathing is difficult, and the itching is enough to drive someone crazy. Despite all the annoyances, I understood the purpose of my cast. My bones were broken and needed time to heal, and no matter how aggravated I was, the only answer was patience.

We don’t like patience. I didn’t want to wait for my bones to heal, I wanted to just start walking. In our current situation, we want things to be back to what we were used to before. Unfortunately, we still need to wait and trust in God’s timing. A hard truth I had to learn, as I contemplated smashing my cast to scratch my knee, and something many of us are facing now, just because you are sick of it, doesn’t mean that it’s over.

You had plans carefully crafted, regrettably Covid had another plan. Many of us are being stretched farther than we’ve ever been stretched before. We hate the world we are required to live in right now. That’s okay. It’s okay as long as you don’t let that annoyance turn into anger. As Christians we are called to be the people of hope. We have hope for sinners, hope for a lost and dying world, and hope in a better world that is to come.

Paul reminds us of this in 2 Corinthians 1, “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

My leg mostly healed but it wasn’t perfect. A better time is coming. It may be different from before or anything we could plan. We don’t know how long that time will take to get here. As the people of hope I pray that we are able to be a source of comfort in these uneasy times rather than people who pile on the impatience with others. Lean into the comfort of God even when plans don’t work out the way you would want them to.

Keep Going

Isaiah 40:30-31 -

30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young people stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.

It’s amazing how weary we can get even when we are not allowed to go most places or do anything. Doing your job, preventing your kids from destroying one another, or keeping your mind active is exhausting when all you want to do is lie in bed and eat snack foods. That’s how quarantine has felt. Everything feels just a little bit harder, a little bit off kilter and we long for things to feel normal. 

However, we all know of times before all this when we have felt like this also. Quarantine may be a new cause, but we have all felt the deep weariness of life before. It is in times that we feel this weariness, this exhaustion, this disillusionment with life that we need to take a step back and tuck in with the strength that comes from the Lord.

As Christians we are to be the people of hope. We are the people who see the problems of the world and, while we acknowledge them, we know of the One who is above them all – the God who will never leave us or forsake us. I pray that we can be the people who tap into that when we face the hard times in life and can point others to the hope that we have.

Quarantine is hard. Even as restrictions start to relax a little it can still make us long for the way things were. Sometimes the taste of water is worse than none at all. No matter what causes your distress, know that there is a God who loves you, a God who wants to renew your strength. Place your hope there and you will be able run and not grow weary.

Don’t give up your hope. 

Too Long

That is how long it feels we have been in this weird semi-agitated state. Yearning for grace and hoping for peace we watch the news, clinging to the good and doing our best to not be crushed by the bad. We live on a rollercoaster going in fits and starts. One moment we are rolling with the punches, the next we feel lost and grasping at anything that gives our life meaning. 

The world we live in has, for better or worse, laid bare some of the things we like to keep hidden. Things like where we find purpose. Many of us have had to completely overhaul how we work, if we are able to work at all. This is extra difficult because our jobs can be where we feel the safest and most in control. Going to work usually makes sense. This is the task, this is the time I have to complete it, and at the end of the day I can close the book on any work problems and pick them back up tomorrow. Admittedly this is an oversimplification of working, but for many this is where we feel the most secure. That all changes when we have to work at home.

In this time, we need to find our peace and security in higher and more important places. Psalm 119:114-117 says, 

114 You are my hiding place and my shield;
    I hope in your word.
115 Depart from me, you evildoers,
    that I may keep the commandments of my God.
116 Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live,
    and let me not be put to shame in my hope!
117 Hold me up, that I may be safe
    and have regard for your statutes continually!

God is our refuge in the times we feel the most lost or alone. Social distancing has given us the time to work on the relationships that are the most important. Make the time you spend with family quality time and do the same when you spend time with God. God wants to know all about you, and you’ve got some extra time right now so tell Him.

As we have this time, I first of all hope you find time to rest in the midst of the chaos. The world we live in now is not the way we want it to be, but the truth is that it never was. As we grow in our faith, I hope you are willing to do the hard work of trusting God to be there for you.

All That’s Left

Romans 12:2-5 - 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. 3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of themselves more highly than they ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

Last week I made a compounding mistake. It started by going on Facebook, I usually try to avoid Facebook because I don’t scroll very far before I’m disappointed by a post from someone that I loved or respected. Facebook (at its worst) has been a garbage fire of competing echo chambers for years and my heart is better when I avoid it. To make that mistake worse I participated in a post a pastor friend of mine made.

I won’t discuss what he posted further than to say I agreed with him. I think I was in the majority, but it was close. And the majority of people who disagreed didn’t argue facts; my friend was mostly getting shouts saying, “don’t get political just stick to teaching the Bible.” We see statements like this a lot, many times aimed at athletes, and they always convey one thing: I don’t care about you as a person just the role you fill for me, and I want to ignore all that’s left.

It is extra disappointing to see it aimed at Christians from Christians. Millions of books have been written about Christian parenting, running a Christian business, how Christians should spend their money, and on what it looks like to live out the Christian worldview. To say politics is off limits ignores the whole-life surrender we are called to. If a Christian has a platform to denounce being misrepresented, then they should use it. Many times, Christian leaders must use their platform to say, "that person who is claiming to be with us or speak for us does not."

Whether it is false teachers or political leaders, condemning falsehood and sharing truth is our duty as believers. Saying, "don't get political" tells someone I don't want to see all of you because it makes me uncomfortable that we might not agree. We must use these as opportunities to learn and grow and appreciate the wonderful span of Biblical opinions that make up the body of Christ. 

Lord, we want to serve you in the love we show our neighbors. Teach us to embrace each person made in your image as if we were greeting you. Amen 

Image of the Invisible

Genesis 1:27-28a
So God created humankind in His own image,
    in the image of God He created them;
    male and female He created them.
And God blessed them.

To say there has been unrest this past week would be a vulgar understatement. People all over America and the world took to the streets to express the frustration of being unheard, disbelieved, and ignored. It is all too easy to ignore systemic problems when the system still works for you, and no one in your orbit is affected. As Christians it is our responsibility to encourage people, to lighten their load because we know, believe, and celebrate that every human is an image bearer of the God of the universe. 

Often, we are aware of oppression taking place, but we think, “If I keep my head down and my mouth shut, they won’t bother me, and if it doesn’t bother me then it probably doesn’t REALLY bother anyone.” This mindset enables oppression to go on unchecked.

When you follow Christ, you are a new creation; your sins are forgiven, and you recognize that everyone is an image-bearer. Ezekiel 36:26-27 says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”

Cruelty to anyone should break our hearts. How are you using your heart of flesh to be kinder and more compassionate to your fellow image-bearer? Do you callously watch the news and think that is terrible for those people, or are you filled with righteous anger that we are not living up to the potential the spirit inside us has given? 

It is easy to be compassionate when disasters happen in far off places. We can assuage our guilt or fear by throwing a few bucks at relief organizations or a GoFundMe. However, when it is happening to our neighbors the rubber meets the road and we need to act. Act as if this is happening to your brother, your father, your son, your sister, your mother, your daughter. God created humankind as image-bearers. See one another.

There are a lot of big questions being asked right now, and it is up to people (you and me) to push the world in the right direction. Faith in an elephant or donkey to solve the world’s problems will only leave us arguing about who caused the mess. As Christians we must be willing to do the hard work of building community from the ground up and expanding the people we allow in our orbit. 

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.” – Desmond Tutu

Dig In

Psalm 143:9-10

9 Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord!
    I have fled to you for refuge.
10 Teach me to do your will,
    for you are my God!
Let your good Spirit lead me
    on level ground!

Who is the enemy that you need to be delivered from? For most of us right now we say our enemy is a tiny virus. We live with varying levels of concern because we never know where or when this microscopic enemy might attack. And because it’s so small we take precautions: wearing masks, washing hands, social distancing, and all the things that protect us from a physical assault. We know of the assorted ways to protect our bodies, but what are you doing to protect your mind?

Just like the virus is a physical enemy many of us are also dealing with mental enemies. Social distancing has got a lot of people feeling, among uncountable other emotions, isolated and alone. And to be clear feeling lonely has nothing to do with the number of people around you. Whether you are in a crowded stadium or hiding in a bunker there are times that we can feel alone. It is in these times that we must seek refuge; we must find a place that feels safe enough to deal with all that life is throwing at us.

God wants to be that place for you. In the confusion of life, God can be the one unchanging constant we have to rely on. As we spend time in the word, we learn to do God’s will and can be reminded of ways to find our way back from the mayhem to level ground. When we spend time reading the Bible, we see how living and active it is. There can be a passage that you’ve read or heard preached a thousand times, but that thousand and first time it speaks to you and your current circumstance in a new and exciting way.

Hiding some of the word in your heart also allows it to come out and remind you that you are loved no matter how lost you feel. God loves you and has given us the means to learn more and grow closer. Randomly cracking open your Bible may not instantly solve the problems you are facing, however, it will constantly remind you that you don’t need to face your problems alone. 

Frustration

Matthew 7:12 - So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Life in quarantine can fray the edges of our nerves. Stuff we would never notice before, we now notice. Stuff we’d notice as a little annoying, is very annoying. Stuff that was annoying before, can make us downright angry. This is a natural outcropping of the general level of stress and anxiety we are living under. Six months ago, we wouldn’t think twice about popping into a store or grabbing a bite to eat. Now we need to wear masks and gloves and plan our outings with greater precision. It is easy for this to feel like it’s all too much.

As our collective fuses get shortened, it becomes fundamentally important to recognize the stress we are facing and do our best to give an extra measure of grace to the people we are sequestered with or that we may come in contact. “That inconsiderate jerk is going the wrong way down the grocery store aisle, even when they are so clearly marked!” Maybe they are just frazzled and trying to get out of the store as quickly as possible. There’s an adage called Hanlon’s Razor that says, "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." Maybe they made a mistake and are not intentionally trying to ruin your day.

We like to put people into boxes; we get an impression and generalize from there. However, if we can move a person from “someone who is in my way” to “someone who is also going through a stressful time” we can be kinder and more compassionate. We all need a little more grace than usual these days. The smallest thing can send us down a path of anger and frustration. What if you took Matthew 7:12, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them,” to heart? 

We want people to be patient with us. We want to be given the benefit of the doubt that what we did was done as a minor slipup and not malice. People make mistakes; it can’t be avoided. Our patience will get tested, now more than ever, but if we devote ourselves to grace and peace, I hope we can be a little more patient and a little more kind. Maybe we can do someone the simple favor of just thinking they’re a little stupid? 

Rolling Stones

Sisyphus is a character from Greek mythology, whe is most famous for being punished by endlessly rolling a stone up a hill. Every time he neared the top the stone would slip and roll right back down to where he started. He would then have to walk back down and start again. The idea here is that there is no greater penalty for a person than to experience pointless repetitive tasks day after day. I think we can all identify with Sisyphus a little bit, maybe now more than ever.

In quarantine, everything can feel shifted and out of place. We can feel like Sisyphus, doomed to do the same thing day after day with no real sense of accomplishment. I have had times where I could not have told you what day it was without checking my phone because they all just seem to blur together. It is times like this that we must find joy in the little things and peace in those small moments. What those are will differ from person to person, and the hard work will be in naming them for yourself. It is all too easy to point out all the things going wrong; they feel big and obvious and in your face.

A philosopher writing about Sisyphus, said that though he was cursed to an endless task, he still had moments of freedom. As the stone rolled down the hill Sisyphus walked behind it, and it was during this walk that he was free. Free to let his mind wander. Free to laugh at the absurdity of his situation. Free to take a deep breath before starting once again.

We want the world to be back to what it was a year ago. We want to have normal days with work, and school, and soccer practice. Unfortunately, we don’t know when those days will come back. For now, we are all just pushing that stone up the hill knowing that at some point it’s going to roll back down, and we’ll need to start again.

When you feel the disappointment of seeing the stone roll downhill, again, I hope you’re able to take a breath, laugh at the absurdity of life, and remember this prayer of David.

Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
    He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
    He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
    for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
    I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
    your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

Feels Like Forever

Sunday is Mother’s Day. It marks another “get together holiday” we will need to spend apart because of quarantine. St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Earth Day, Cinco de Mayo, countless birthdays, and Mother’s Day plans have all been cancelled due to the fact that we need to keep each other safe. Where once you’d be planning brunch, now you’re planning a Zoom call. The crowds are easier, but the experience just doesn’t feel the same. 

As we navigate this new normal, it’s easy to get disheartened. We had plans, ideas, things to do, and people to see. Now, we have video meetings and kids that haven’t left your side in what feels like forever! We have all adapted to this weird new “normal” in different ways. Vigilance fatigue is setting in and we just want to act like nothing bad is happening in the world. 

During the writing of Psalm 3, David was going through some serious troubles. His son was trying to overthrow him and a large number of the people he considered friends were turning their backs on him. As he was running for his life, he needed to maintain a heightened sense of awareness about him because he never knew who might cause him trouble.

This is similar to our need to wear masks and gloves. “But they’re are stuffy, and uncomfortable, and they fog up my glasses, and I hate them.” The problem is, we don’t know where the trouble might come from. “Was that cough from the virus or just allergies?” “Could I be asymptomatic and sharing this garbage everywhere I go?” We don’t know, and because we don’t know we make the sacrifice to protect ourselves and each other. Even when it makes us feel weird. Even when it’s uncomfortable. Even when we can’t see how much we are making a difference.

Psalm 3:3-8 says,

3 But you, O Lord, are a shield about me,
    my glory, and the lifter of my head.
4 I cried aloud to the Lord,
    and he answered me from his holy hill. 

5 I lay down and slept;
    I woke again, for the Lord sustained me.
6 I will not be afraid of many thousands of people
    who have set themselves against me all around.

7 Arise, O Lord!
    Save me, O my God!
For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;
    you break the teeth of the wicked.

8 Salvation belongs to the Lord;
    your blessing be on your people!

Though it is exhausting, we will stay vigilant and find our rest in God. Though we are afraid, we will stay faithful because we have received your blessings.

Days Like These

We are all trying to find different ways to survive our current situation: picking up new skills, nervous baking, or binge-watching Tiger king and another season of the office. I have a friend that would like to fall into option three however with a 16-month-old Tiger King might not be the most appropriate. Instead they landed on Sesame Street as a compromise with Mom since it is at least a little educational. He was watching it the other day when I gave him a call—I’ll give him the benefit of believing that his kid was in the room, but it was also around naptime so I can’t be sure. 

As he related the episode to me, something stuck with me. Abby Cadabby said, “we are probably feeling some big feelings right now. And that’s okay!” It’s not often that you’re floored by a 4-year-old, fairy in training, pink Muppet. As we close out the month of April in quarantine, we can all be feel some really big feelings that run the gamut of emotion: fear, anxiety, sadness, empathy, annoyance, compassion fatigue, and this list can go on and on. No matter where you fall, from the highest heights of joy to the dark depths of depression, whatever big feelings you have right now God wants you to share them.

Psalm 34:15-18 says,

15 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous
    and his ears toward their cry.
16 The face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
    to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
17 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears
    and delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
    and saves the crushed in spirit.

Tragedy reveals a lot about us and the people around us. The problem is that most tragedies are localized. When someone faces the death of a loved one, they can be lost in grief but it’s okay because the community can come around them and pick up the slack. The community can give them the love and support they need. This dynamic goes out the window when there is a global pandemic that literally affects everyone. 

This is why it so important to reach out to your community right now. Your good day might be happening at the same time as someone else’s bad one and hearing a little of your positivity might turn that around. If you’re feeling down reach out, there are people that would love nothing more than to lend a listening ear. 

I know someone who has wrestled with anxiety and depression most of their life, and they said the quarantine hasn’t hit them as hard as others because feeling lonely or isolated is just Tuesday. For others this might be the first time dealing with these emotions. You might be a feeling some big feelings right now and that’s okay! It’s okay because you are loved no matter what. God loves you more than anyone has ever been loved before.

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears
    and delivers them out of all their troubles.
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
    and saves the crushed in spirit.