I have been remiss about writing here for some while again. (Slap on the wrist!) However, I had been thinking about it and telling myself to do it. It is just that things got in the way. Last night, I told myself that I should write. This morning I told myself that I should write. This afternoon I am finally writing.
I wanted to write just to say that I hope that you are well! It has been such a difficult time for the whole world over the past months up till now, and many of the results have not been pleasant. Yet, there have been rays of hope when people recovered from the coronavirus so that all who know and love them can rejoice together. There have been many acts of kindnesses, many unexpected, and there have been people getting in touch with those they had not been in touch with for a long time simply because they had assumed that all was well with them. Sometimes, we fail to make contact, even though we care.
This will be a short post. I just wanted to write and say that we are thinking of the many guests who have stayed with us during the almost 20 years we have been at Blenheim Lodge, and wish them well. Some have become friends, and it has been such a blessing for that to happen. We are also thinking of those whom we do not know and who are suffering, and also their loved ones who are worried about them. It is a tough time now, but we can pray that it will pass and humankind will be all the better for it not simply in terms of health, but also in heart. In all this, I hope and trust that we can make God our Peace.
I learnt this song as a teenager. It is one that is both uplifting and offers hope. Many people cannot see God in this pandemic. It is indeed terribly difficult to see Him in this awful situation. Nonetheless, we are assured that He cares. Whether we have spiritual faith or not, there is nothing to lose by asking God Himself where He is in all this and “Why?”, the perennial question.
We have doctors and nurses and other health staff who are working round the clock in many countries to fight this virus. We have other essential workers, such as grocers and bin men who are putting themselves at risk because they are needed. There are so many people who do the things they do because they care. This song is about caring too – by God. He put those people there.
My mother died of Alzheimer’s Disease after countless years of suffering. Why did she have to suffer so much? Could I see God in it? She, on the contrary, never lost her faith, and she was the sufferer, deteriorating to something which was not merely a shell of herself, but worse – a heap of useless limbs and organs which, when they were no longer able to sustain both body and spirit, became her cadaverous shell.
I knew in my spirit, almost practically to the minute, when she passed away. She was in Edinburgh and we are in Cumbria. It was a sobering thought, but I knew she was at peace now – no pain; her spirit free. What did that tell me? That God is in our sufferings and much larger than that too. I cannot answer the why or wherefore. It is all a question of faith. In circumstances such as the world is going through now, there may seem no earthly reason to believe. But believers have hope, which some might call a crutch and others might envy.
These are just my thoughts.