A Moment Aside for 12 November 2020

 

A Moment Aside ---- 12 November 2020

from "The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse" by Charlie Mackesy

     We live in a time of unprecedented fear for many. We fear for our health in this time of pandemic. We fear for our families and friends. We fear for our freedom and for our rights. Most of all, we fear for our future.

     Some of the future depends on us, for sure. In a snowstorm, if we don’t shovel our driveways or walks, moving around will become difficult. If we’re hungry and eat raw clams that have been in the ‘fridge for a week or 10 days, our future will include a stomach-ache at the very least and probably a lot more. If we don’t pre-heat the oven, bread baking will be more than a chore.

     A great part of the future is beyond our control. Rain will not respond to a tantrum. Politics might often not go our way. Television shows get cancelled without our permission. Exactly how long we’ll live is out of our hands for the most part.

     So we fear for the future – our future and the future of those we care about.

“This storm is real, and our fear is real,” said the horse. “But our love is also real, and in the end, love wins.”

     As disciples of Jesus Christ, we know and we trust that the future of our lives, of our loved ones’ lives, and of the whole of creation is in the hands of the one who created it, the one who became part of it at Bethlehem, and the one who remains part of it through constant inspiration. (“Inspiration” means to be filled with spirit and in our case, the Holy Spirit.) The future, as rocky as it might be, could not be in better hands. That doesn’t mean that we can be “polly-anna” and think everything will go our way and be quite rosy. The future might be painful at time and often dark. Yet it is still in the hands of God and really, in the heart of God, where love wins.

     I’ve often felt that the future has two lights. One is on the next step to take, the other on the ultimate goal of the journey. Sometimes that first light is dim. Sometimes the second seems far, far off. Sometimes there are many paths that lead from where we are to where the journey is fulfilled and we can actually choose. What ever the case, we need to walk in love… and that could be the hardest part of any journey.