WORD OF THE WEEK
THESE certainly are peculiar times that we are living through – Christmas was the quietest ever in the Warner household and we still wait to give our latest grandson (born on Christmas Day!) a hug.
We have managed to keep in touch with all our family by video calls, Zoom gatherings and good old-fashioned phone calls – we haven’t got round to much letterwriting, though!
Life can certainly be quiet but, although sometimes it can be good to slow down from a hectic lifestyle, perhaps some of us feel like we are grinding to a halt.
Many of our shops are shut, we have even had to take the decision to close our churches for public worship and we are encouraged not to stray too far from our homes for exercise, though our dog still needs to be taken out and he does seem to think that a short trot down the brook is not really a walk!
So how do we keep sane? Over the summer I was able to enjoy my garden but, looking outside, I can’t say that a few hours’ toil looks particularly inviting.
I have had to look to the other activities in my life – helping to prepare 100 meals a week for Ossie’s Kitchen, recording the occasional Sunday service for broadcasting and I have rediscovered a love for the Psalms from the Bible. Some 150 songs of people worshipping, struggling and occasionally having a good old rant at God. They represent so much of our lives that are often looking for answers when we rarely know the question.
I have also started on another model boat, this time a paddle steamer, fingers and eyes are getting older so I thought another fully-rigged old ship might be too much, and one thing I have learned from my model-building experience is that you have to follow the plans.
You can’t leap too far ahead and once something is fixed in place it stays there. There is a lot of detail and the end result can be a thing of beauty – a bit like life, really.
So, I’ll end with a few words from one of my favourite Psalms: “O Lord, you have searched me out and known me, you know my sitting down and my rising up.”
God knows us, he cares for us and even through these difficult times he will help us to put all the pieces in the right place to turn out a thing of beauty, if we let him work with us.