[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 02/Aug/2020]
I just watched Jill and the team on YouTube getting busy cooking meals to bless others. Being ‘stuck’ indoors and having to self-isolate or shield can make you look on things like that and feel like you aren’t doing your bit. For some whose nature is to be on the go, helping others, the inability to do so during lockdown can lead to a feeling of ‘uselessness’.
Perhaps if that is you, it is worth pondering whether, like me, you have unknowingly started thinking that what you do matters more to people than who you are, and before you know it your relationship with others and with God becomes performance based. You have probably heard of people who were so busy doing the work of the Lord, that they had forgotten the Lord of the work. It is reassuring to remember that God loves us always, and not just when we ‘perform’.
A few months ago, many people had their plans all laid out, certain what to do in Spring, thinking about their summer holiday plans. For those of you feeling downcast, have a heart for the chap who invested in face recognition software, not knowing that a few months later everyone would be wearing masks!
Seriously though, the other part of the lockdown that has proven difficult for many is the uncertainty. Will there be a second wave of the coronavirus? Are we easing restrictions too quickly? Are we damaging the economy by not easing the restrictions quick enough? Who do we turn to for answers? The government? Social media? The news…….?
I thought I’d share something from one of my favourite authors, Max Lucado. He writes:
In the early pages of my childhood memory, I see this picture. My father and I sit side by side in a chapel. We both wear our only suits … The sight of my dead uncle leaves us all silent. This is my first funeral. My nine years of life have not prepared me for death. What I see unnerves me. Aunts, typically jovial and talkative, weep loudly. Uncles commonly quick with a word and joke stare wide eyed at the casket … … … I remember my eyes moistening and my heart bouncing in my chest … Fear had me in her talons. Where do I look? The weeping ladies frighten me. Glassy eyed men puzzle me. My dead uncle spooks me. But then I look up. I see my father. He turns his face towards me and smiles softly. “It’s okay, son” he assures, laying a large hand on my leg. Somehow I know it is. Uncle Buck is still dead. But if Dad, in the midst of it all says it’s okay, then that’s enough. At that moment I realised something. I could look around and find fear, or look at my father and find faith. I chose my father’s face.
In these uncertain times in particular, but indeed, at all times, choose to look to God. Jesus’ invitation remains timely when he says “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest”. If you don’t have that kind of relationship with him, now would seem a good time to start.
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Contributed by David Makanjuola; © the Author
