Moments of Happiness

“Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them…“ Matthew 6:26 NRSV

Right now the colouring app that I use daily is running a series of pictures called ‘Moments of Happiness’. What are these pictures about you might wonder. Celebrations? Family gatherings? Attending a concert? All things we have missed over the last two years. The answer would be NO, NO, NO! The pictures to date have shown instead getting a good night’s rest, enjoying a morning cup of coffee, making time for some self-care, cooking, and for today, exercising at home. All things that were part both of our lives both before and during COVID… and will be afterwards as well.

I was once told as an adult that not only could I not sing, but that I never would be able to. Immediately I stopped singing (even in the shower). For the most part conductors in the various choirs I had sung in over the years had left me alone. So I had had that! My friend wasn’t so lucky. They were told by a teacher that they couldn’t write. Now well into adult life they still believe this about themselves despite evidence that it is no longer the case, if in fact it ever was. Makes me hope that as a teacher I was never guilty of doing something similar to a student!

The Bible quote at the beginning as well as these stories from my life have come together this week. Jesus was holding the birds of the air and the lilies of the field up to his disciples as examples. Not examples of how they should live a life of ease, free from worry but rather, I believe, how they (and we) should live lives that fulfills what we have been given to the very best of our ability. The lilies didn’t worry about what had gone on before. They didn’t worry that the lily next to them might be more gorgeous than they. They didn’t worry about what was coming next. They just were…. The birds likewise were just being the best birds they could be.

That is our challenge, especially as we learn to live with COVID, to use and enjoy all the gifts that God has given us and not to worry about what we might not be able to do. Our challenge is to be the persons we were created to be. Nothing more, nothing less.

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NUDGINGS: a journey into the unknown

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