This too will pass

“Hampered as we Huis Stilbaai residents are by Covid-enforced restrictions on activities like shopping, visiting family and planning holidays, it’s easy to pity ourselves.

Recently I found an inspirational quote that seems to make more sense every time I read it. It advises us to, “Accept what is, let go of what was, and have faith in what will be.”

It sounds too difficult to do, at first, but gradually it begins to echo what Jesus said, preachers preach, teachers teach, and most recently, Huis Stilbaai manager Karlien Saayman’s assurances to residents chafing against the lockdown, that “this too will pass”.

Yes, things change. We serve our own wellbeing best by living gratefully amid life-saving restrictions, not clinging to freedoms we no longer have, at least not for the time-being, and believing that when things change, as they must and will, joy will be a part of the change.

In the meantime, when things look bleak or hopeless, having faith in what will be gives us freedom to dream, to pray, to dare to hope that when we embrace the coming joy, we will be more patient, kinder, not envying, nor boasting, nor proud, not rude or self-seeking or easily angered, not keeping a record of wrongs. In short, faith in what will be could produce in us the image of St Paul’s definition of love, described in 1 Cor. 13:4-8.”

Maureen Marud

Poem from Lili

I thank Thee, Lord, for my good right knee,

and all the times I’ve found my keys,

for grandkids to spoil in late December

and every name I still remember.

Give me more days when I can sleep past seven

and one or two nights when I’m up till eleven.

Keep me from fear, shield me from doubt,

and help me go with grace when the lights go out.

John Gurda of Milwaukee, USA