Each Day Begins Anew – A Reflection
There are plenty of mornings in this new COVID-19 reality where I think it is Groundhog’s Day (as in the movie with Bill Murray and Andie McDowell). What is going on around me… the routine is pretty standard… and we spend most of our time indoors working on virtual worship, virtual meetings, virtual fellowship, and the occasional virtual gatherings with friends.
I have to look at the calendar to remind myself what day it is. We also look at the calendar to see where we have to “be” each day. “Be” is not defined by location but is rather defined by the people we will meet with and the worship we will offer. The place is mostly from our Condo. Twice a week we head to the church to broadcast Midweek Worship and Sunday Evening Worship plus Sunday morning Fellowship.
Yes, the days do tend to run together. This week I will add another regular agenda item to my days. Tomorrow I begin my first class in the Doctor of Ministry degree track at my alma mater. On-line seminary… that wasn’t even conceivable when I was working on my Master of Divinity from 1983-1986.
The thing that brings life to Denise and to me comes when we walk (safely and socially distant with masks on) in the midst of God’s creation. We tend to either walk from our Condo to an open space and back or from the church property around the Golf Course or to the Lake.
Since this pandemic and shelter-in-place began, I have been hearing birdsong in a way I hadn’t before. We are starting to recognize the songs of our feathered neighbors along with the loud buzz of the hummingbirds now that they have returned.
It is in these moments of wonder and awe that I truly feel the Spirit speaking to me. This reflection drew me to Thomas Merton’s words in the book Thomas Merton: Book of Hours. These words were originally published in his book Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander (p. 131).
The most wonderful moment of the day is that when creation in its innocence asks permission to “be” once again, as it did on the first morning that it ever was.
May we find in each day that moment of wonder which reminds us that we aren’t living in some sort of weird Groundhog’s Day!
Thank you
Great photo and great thoughts
That is probably my favorite piece of Merton’s prose. I come back to it again and again, finding more in it each time.
Blessings on this new part of your journey towards a Doctor of Ministry degree. May it be filled with insightful moments, places of grace and gifts of friendships.
Thank you so much Shirley! Never in a million years would I have thought that I would be going back to seminary! I am so thankful that it is UTS. They get the way I think and they get my proposal which mostly involves integration of life experience, theology, and the future. Of course Integration is still their specialty!