Wandering Goats

People are starting to talk about what life will look like when we can resume our “normal“  lives. But will we go right back to the way things were? Do we want to? Sometimes life felt like we were just a herd of wandering goats, driven around by who knows what. During this forced pause, we have a chance to slow down and consider what we want that new normal to look like on both a national and a personal level.

The Sparkling Blue Canals of …Venice?

In Venice the canals are typically murky but without boats the silt has settled, the pollution has lessened, and the canals are beautiful in a way our generation has never experienced.   The water is clear enough that people can see fish swimming. This must be an encouraging sight, but how can the people of Venice protect their canals when life resumes? What changes might they make now that they’ve seen the canals looking so lovely?

The cleansing of the canals in Venice might be seen as a metaphor for the removal of the superficial qualities of our lives that prevent us from living deeply. During this time of isolation, many of us have a chance to go a bit deeper, to sift through the murk of unexamined business and emerge from this with new priorities. There might be things we’ve been prevented from doing during the lockdown that we don’t resume when the lockdown is lifted. Maybe there are other things we want to be more intentional about bringing into our lives. Priorities change in times of crisis, but we change too. When this crisis ends, we will be different too, but how we are different is largely up to us.

 The Hidden Himalayans

There is a city in India where the view of Himalayan Mountains has been obscured by pollution for over thirty years.  During the lockdown, no one has been allowed to drive and the factories and other pollution causing industries sit idle. The clean air has given local people a view of mountains many had never seen.  Local people are marveling at their view. The majestic beauty was always there, it had just been hidden from sight. Somehow, they’d allowed pollution to progress and had even forgotten they had such beautiful views of the mountains.

What majestic beauty is hiding from our view? So often, we let distractions and commitments obscure our view of God’s beauty, of the beauty of other people, or even the beauty of nature.  There is an abundance of God- given beauty around us that we’ve taken for granted or not noticed. Has this time of praying at home during Lent deepened your prayer life? What beauty do you miss? How can we cherish the beauty in our lives and protect it after this crisis fades?

 Goats in a Ghostly Welch Village

Recently, a herd of goats wandered around the streets of a village in Wales. The people are on a strict lockdown so while no one was out, the goats just walked in. The sight was both eerie because the village appeared deserted, and funny because it was wandering goats. Likewise, while we are suddenly stuck at home, goats of irritability, sloth, and distraction might wander in. Maybe the people you are stuck with hibernating with have habits that are less than endearing when there is no break from them.  Maybe you’re isolating at home alone and wishing there was another person around to get on your nerves. 

 On lockdown and deemed non-essential, each day blurs into the next and it’s hard to summon energy to get on task.   Being stuck at home promotes wearing PJ’s and forgetting to shower. Slothfulness slides into depression. Irritability can wreck relationships if we don’t extend grace. Distractions drag us into other sins. 

While we’ve lost control of so many other things, we can try to keep a handle on ourselves. If we want to schlep around in pj’s, do so with a sense of humor.  What a wonderful opportunity to cook with the kids or do that list of things you still don’t want to do. Call someone if you feel isolated. We all feel isolated. Make fun plans for the summer so you are looking forward to something. How wonderful it will be just to sit in a restaurant with friends again! How thankful we’ll be to pray in church together. 

Think about how we can protect and cherish the perspectives we’ve gained when the lockdown ends. Because it will end and when it does, we’ll want to be ready to rebuild and reengage with each other.   With God’s grace, amazing beauty may surprise us like hidden mountains and sparkling clear water. 

Matushka Olga of Alaska is quoted as saying, “God can create great beauty from complete desolation and nothingness”. Surely there is an opportunity for great good to arise out of the destruction and loss our world is suffering from the pandemic. Let us pray that beauty and good do arise and act to make positive changes to our priorities, protect beauty, and avoid distractions. With God’s help, there may be a better normal for us when this is over.