This 3rd national lockdown appears to be getting longer, despite the glimmer of hope that the vaccines provide. Though we have that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, we've still got a long dark tunnel to navigate. I don't know how you're coping with the uncertainty, the lifestyle changes and the restrictions that this pandemic have created. It's the waiting coupled with the uncertainty and the unknown that we all struggle with. No matter how laid back a person is, I doubt that there is anyone who has not suffered some anxiety over the last 12 months.
Waiting is often the hardest part of life. Whether you're waiting for Christmas, or that summer holiday in the sun, the arrival of new life or some other family orientated celebrations like weddings, birthdays or just a simple Sunday roast. We have a saying in our house "It's like waiting for Tuesday!", which originates from when our children were younger and we'd take our films into a local shop to be developed. Invariably, whatever day we took them in, they'd always say that they'd be ready on Tuesday! (Being a Yorkshire man, you wouldn't find me wasting money, paying the extra for a quicker turnaround, we can wait!) I know that the idea of having to wait for photos to be developed is alien to many people these days, but there was always that sense of dread waiting to receive your photos back, will the photos be OK? Did I put the film in right? On that group shot, will everyone be looking at the camera and will their eyes be open? So we regularly had that anticipation of waiting for Tuesday and even though it was only a few days away, it always seemed to be an eternity.
I was flicking through an old journal this morning, trying to find a quote for something else that I am in the process of writing, when I came across these notes that I'd made in 2018, that are so relevant to the current position we all find ourselves in:
With an old school camera, it's in the darkroom that the film is developed. The film doesn't stay in the dark room, it goes through the darkroom. Likewise, we don't stay in the valley of the shadow of death, we go through it.
Isolation is not a permanent destination. It's a season, not a destination!
The waiting is where we are able (if we are willing) to learn and develop, so that we are ready to come into the fullness of what God has for each of us. In the story of Joseph, we find a man who developed (in a dark room! Hahahaha!!!! Which in reality was a horrible, dark, smelly prison dungeon.) and found favour with God through his honesty, his integrity and through strengthening himself in the Lord. It seems that currently we're all waiting for Tuesday, which may still seem a long way off, but we know that it will come around! Don't forget, this pandemic will end one day and then we will be able to meet with people again and hug them, we will be able to travel and go out for meals, but in the meantime, the big question is:
What am I and what are you learning in this time of waiting?
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