By Pat Russell
This
might be a long one, so grab a cup of coffee and a comfortable chair for the
duration. I think I will title this “Dichotomy.”
Wednesday,
I woke up with an overwhelming sense of peace. This is what I wrote in my
journal:
“Within
my soul I have a deep peace this morning. Hearing how the birds are singing
more loudly than ever all over the world because of less noise pollution
brought a deep peace to me. Knowing air pollution has decreased in these days
makes my soul even more peaceful.
“These
are not empty lost days for me. They are full of bounty. I read this in the
Celtic Prayer Book, ‘O that you would bless me and enlarge my borders.’ (1
Chronicles 4:10). Chris Ainsley then wrote, ‘It took enforced exile to bring
this word about realigning our spiritual geography so to speak. When your
borders are enlarged, so are your horizons.’ I cannot believe the peace that is
everywhere I look in my soul. It is as if I woke up in a very holy place…
Something beautiful is happening all over the world in the midst of the
suffering. I don’t want to minimize the worst for people, but over top and
wrapping the world, You are finding a way to bless us.”
Later
Wednesday morning I spoke with a friend in India. She lives in a small
apartment with her husband, her young daughter, her two adult daughters, and
her mother-in-law. She is heading up all the household duties which she does
not enjoy, as well as leading Zoom Bible studies and watching over groups in
her church. They are “at home” like we are. I have been to her home and I am
sure people are sleeping everywhere. It is their hot, dry season and the fan
was whirring while we talked. She told me how migrant workers are stuck in
place and cannot work. They are hungry and sick, and the church is trying to
minister to them in this crisis.
Wednesday
evening we watched the news as usual. The reports came in from the world and
our country – deaths totaling almost 200,000, starvation in Yemen, locus plague
in Kenya, secrets in China, dead bodies being wheeled out from nursing homes
all over America and the rest of the world.
In
my dreams last night (Thursday) I saw a very busy, busy factory surrounding me
with many people working as hard as they could to make things happen. Somewhere
in the night I started thinking, “What if this goes on and on? What if there
are food shortages here? What if my brother-in-law on dialysis gets the virus?
What can I do to help? What can I
do to help? Sell my home and give the money to those on the front lines?
I sit in this ivory tower of peace and beauty while the world is suffering
beyond any of my experience.”
And
then, and then, I
received this text from Denise Wanzeck. This is her granddaughter, Gracie Lynn.
I
cried. So simple, so pure. In the midst of her day’s “routine” this was her
prayer. It is now my prayer, “Dear
Jesus, my dear Jesus, bless my day, bless my day. How may we be like you? How
may we be like you? Whisper prayer.” I thought of these words from
Isaiah 11.
“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
The calf and the young lion and fatling together;
And a little child
shall lead them.”
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