Pure Joy?

 

We’ve decamped to another bedroom: Doug tested positive for Covid so he is isolating in our en suite, while the rest of us isolate at home. Cancel all plans. More challenge. More change.

He took the test and had the result right after burying his beloved cat Prince, who was knocked down by a car overnight on the small country road in front of our house. Heartbroken and ill. Yet more challenge. Yet more change.

The load of washing I hung outside last night still hangs out in the rain, under cloudy skies which show no breaks of blue, of sunshine. I can see a relation there as we all hang out, pegged in place, under stormy skies.

But the break of blue is there. The birds still sing. Jesus is here. In him all our hopes rest. He never leaves us nor forsakes us. He died so we could be unpegged and freed from hanging helplessly under life’s onslaught. Though I don’t want my sheets and towels dancing across the surrounding fields, I do want our spirits to lift and rise as we put our trust in God.

Consider it pure joy, James famously wrote, when faced with trials of all kinds. May we persevere not with gritted teeth but with singing lips as we expect God’s glory to be revealed.