Boris announced yesterday that national lockdown restrictions will end on December 2 to be replaced with ‘regional tiers’. People wait to hear how it will affect their local shops, pubs, gyms, restaurants, businesses… spectator sports and public worship (strangely linked!)… and what will happen at Christmas. Lockdown will end with tiers…
It remined me of my Mum saying, ‘It will end in tears’, when my brother and I were fighting or arguing. Sadly she was often right – and as I was the little brother, it was often my tears.
Our world is a place of tears, caused by pressure, uncertainty, illness and bereavement. For many it’s a time of isolation, unhappiness and insecurity. Some feel that they’re locked in a place with no escape…
Musing today… Does it have to end in tears?
King David said: ‘Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.’ Weeping is real but temporary. Elsewhere he talks about walking through ‘the valley of the shadow of death’ . Some parts of our journey are very dark, but we come out of them.
I think of some of yesterday’s positives…
Rachel, my wife, helped prepare several hundred Advent packs for children, young people and families linked to our church, and adults in local businesses.
I helped a group of friends preparing free hot meals for folk in our local community. I took a friend to hospital for a small operation; he couldn’t speak highly enough of the care and kindness he received – and the benefits of our National Health Service.
I saw the youngsters from a local primary school making a positive out of a negative; how bullying could be overcome by friendship and support.
The headline in this morning’s paper is ‘Tiers of joy or tiers of sorrow’. We don’t have to be victims of our circumstances. We can choose joy.
malcolmsmusings.org 