Preparing for the Mists of Mystery

Yesterday…

…At our Men’s Shed Richard’s made a new seat, he says, with ‘two pallets, a saw, a hand full of nails, a little imagination.’ I think there’s a fair bit of skill too…

…I met a friend at Costa. He’s planning to move to Yorkshire… making a fresh start… moving closer to his partner’s family… considering work opportunities… provision for his children…

…In the garden I cut the grass, pulled a few weeds, tidying up after the winter. I’ve dug over the vegetable beds, bought some seeds that need to be planted soon…  

…We practiced Sunday morning’s songs at church… guitars, keyboard, drums, voices… melodies, rhythm, dynamics, harmonies, pitch… introductions and endings…

…Preparing …making, moving, mowing, music-ing.

Reflecting on those things in life that we can’t predict, plan or prepare for… the heart attack or cancer diagnosis, the unexpected redundancy, the relationship breakdown, the anxiety or depression…

Remembering the wise words of James: ‘Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes…’

Planning for the predictable is one thing; preparing for the mist of mystery is another.

I only have a few memories of my Grandma. A missionary in North Africa for many years, she always seemed very old and very serious. She gave me my first Bible – a red one with a zip round it. In the front she wrote the first verses I learnt ‘off-by-heart’.

The old words sort of went with Grandma: ‘Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.’

I don’t know what happened to that Bible, but Grandma’s advice (well, Solomon’s actually) on preparing for the mists of mystery has remained and become increasingly important.