Serenity

 October 8, 2020

It’s been a pretty quiet day here in the country. I woke up around 3:00 am, and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I got up, read my Bible, deleted old emails, and finally dozed off on the couch for a couple hours. It’s funny how different Linda and I are; when I was actively pastoring, occasionally couples would come in for marital counseling. I frequently had to stifle laughter when they inevitably told me how incompatible they were, after all, one was male and the other female; you can’t get much more incompatible than that! For Linda and myself, incompatibility is our middle name. She likes baking in the sun; I’m a shade guy. She hates to travel; for me, there are so many places yet to see. She lives by her emotions; I usually don’t even know what mine are. And if she wakes up at night, her thoughts are racing so fast she has to turn the tv on to shut her mind off. I can’t sleep with its sound or light in the room. And when I wake up, I can’t think enough even to pray. I just lie there. But I digress.

Once the day got underway, it was pretty serene. I worked some more on the remodeling project, we had dinner, and went to our granddaughters’ swim meet. I have more projects waiting in the wings than I have time to do them, and we’re keeping options open, not knowing what the future holds for my mother. 

All of which leads me to my observation for today: life is always personal. Big issues are swirling all around us like a wildfire, and people are getting caught up in the updrafts, swept off their feet, and allowing current events to consume them. I have to admit, I constantly have to fight the temptation to get sucked in, and don’t always win. But while my life is affected by what happens in Albany and Washington, and in all the places where unrest and rioting are occurring, my life is not defined by any of these places or people. Spending time with family, going out of my way to be kind and helpful to others, or just sitting and watching my mother sleep—these are the people and circumstances that form the frame for my life. I’m quite content with it. I had my day in the sun, leading a congregation. I’m sure I could have done better; I know I could have done worse. But that chapter of my life is over, and though life is quite busy, it’s not rushed, and I’m not stressed. The good, bad, and the ugly are all in God’s hands, and he knows how to sort it out. Fortunately for me, he does so with grace and mercy.