Disturbed by the Unexpected…

I enjoyed my usual Saturday morning prayer/meditation walk on the beach. There was a sharp frost; the sun rose over a calm sea. Beautiful, relaxing, routine…

I return to Deuteronomy. Moses says: ‘When you are in the land the Lord your God is giving you, someone may be found murdered in a field, and you don’t know who committed the murder…’ (21:1)

It sounds like the start of ‘Midsomer Murders’ or some other detective drama. Ordinary and predictable life’s disturbed by the unexpected…

We’ve lived the last two years disturbed by the unexpected covid-world…

Over the past couple of days we’ve seen the Ukraine invasion… Ordinary people… families sleeping in abandoned subways, escaping air raids… young men taking up arms to defend their country… people queuing to give blood… fear-full mums and children fleeing… yesterday’s residents becoming today’s refugees.

Ukrainian lives disturbed – and destroyed – by the unexpected… forced to make difficult decisions.

Musing… conversations yesterday…

Andy’s life was sorted out… work, home, future plans… Then he met and fell in love with Rebecca… they’re discussing him moving in with her, marriage, children… which order should these happen? What’s the next step? What about his previous plans?

Katie’s marriage fell apart. A year ago her Dad died. After an unsettled period Katie and her teenage daughters are in a new home… there’s new routines for work, school, social lives… there’s difficult relationships with the girls’ Dad…

Andy, Katie… disturbed by the unexpected… making difficult decisions…

Musing… The Deuteronomy text continues… Moses talks about not avoiding the unexpected but dealing with it responsibly and correctly…

…A few chapters later Moses has died; Joshua’s leading the Israelites; their God’s leading them into a new life in a new land: ‘Then you will know which way to go since you have never been this way before.’

I’m frequently disturbed by the unexpected… I need to ‘know which way to go’… I’ve ‘never been this way before’. I can only trust my God…