When the future is uncertain, the past seems a safer place to
be.
Good old-fashioned foods. Not only do they satisfy but are
often made with simple ingredients that we probably have in our pantries or
freezers. Biscuits. Bread Pudding. Pancakes. Mac and cheese. Baked beans.
Another question - do you find yourself leaning towards old
comfortable friends and relatives these days? Even if the years have seen us
move miles apart from each other, our hearts have never been distant so it's
easy to reconnect. Someone we went to school with. Someone we went to
church with. Cousins, aunts, uncles. A neighbour from 2 or 3
moves ago. Best friends when our children were born.
Did you pull out your old board games so you can sit around
the table like in past days, rather than playing the digital version? Scrabble.
Checkers. Puzzles – I hear they are hard to come by on the store shelves these
days.
Are you, like me, tending to choose to listen to favourite
music from years past?- even if listening to them on a thoroughly modern
program like Spotify!! Remember "A little bit country and a little bit
rock n roll". Elvis. Doris Day.
Patsy Cline. Louis Armstrong. Joni Mitchell. B.J.Thomas.
Gospel music from the Gaithers comforts and encourages
me. Old hymns. Andrea Crouch.
Evie. Amy Grant. Any number of southern gospel quartets.
I'm rewatching old movies. Kinda wish I still had my VCR and
collection of tapes.
Did you know that The Beverley Hillbillies TV show is on
reruns? Well, that's old vocab, actually
it's available on a streaming service.
Gentle and comfortable books like Anne of Green Gables or the
Mitford series are my choice these days.
And when I'm reading the Bible, I’m not back to the King James
version of the church of my youth! - but
enjoy the NIV for the comfort and familiarity of the passages.
In general, I find I am not taking up the challenge of learning
new information or tackling online courses.
A walk through the neighbourhood confirms that the natural
world has not gone into hiding. I am revelling in the sight of green grass and
blossoms, birds chirping and squirrels scurrying. It's comfortably the same as
every year but somehow more precious today when everything else is off kilter.
Finding comfort in the past – the old and familiar - is very appealing
to me right now. It seems like living in the present is akin to being in a
waiting room while the future has been put on hold.
Then I remember Paul’s words in Ephesians 5, “So be very careful how you live, not being like those with no
understanding, but live honorably with true wisdom, for we are living in evil
times. Take full advantage of every day as you spend your life for his
purposes. And don’t live foolishly for
then you will have discernment to fully understand God’s will.” (TPTversion)
Here’s a quote I identify with-- “Our culture – and even our faith tradition – can easily convince
us that it’s better to live somewhere other than the present. My time can be
sucked into thinking about yesterday or tomorrow. But there’s an element of
eternity in every moment we’re given. Today, I have breath in my lungs. Today,
there’s life to be lived with God by my side. I just need to take a moment to
see it.” (Cheryl, Twenty-six Letters,
online)
There then, is the challenge – “take full advantage of every
day”! There is no built in excuse for times of
pandemics. In fact, more than just satisfying myself with something that feels
comfortable, at this time it’s vitally important to step out of that zone of comfort
and instead be the one to bring comfort to others in whatever way I can, today
and every day.
This is
the day that the Lord has made! Let us rejoice and be glad in it.!
(Psalm
118:24)
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