As my eyes opened this morning and I looked around the room, one of the first conscious thoughts on my mind was that it is Tuesday the day I generally write my weekly post. I lay there waiting for the ideas to form in my mind of what to write about, but they didn’t materialize. So I got out of bed, dressed and began with the regular morning routine. As I sat on the porch waiting for our two dogs to sniff each square inch of yard choosing the perfect blade of grass to offend while relieving themselves I thought surely the morning air would clear my head and allow the ideas to flow more freely…nothing. “Coffee, that’s it I need coffee”, I made the coffee, I drank the coffee…still nothing. Then I proceeded to have a lengthy discussion with my wife Lynn about the condition of our country right now. I fully expected at any moment she or I would say something that would ignite an idea for a post…never happened…great conversation, just nothing to write home (or to you) about. Finally, I decided that I would pick up my laptop and just begin to write, surely that would break loose the log jam as it has so many times in the past. So I began to write…and delete, write…and delete, write…and delete. I was really beginning to wonder what was wrong with me this morning. I love to write. There is so much one could write about, and yet I was unable to make it happen.
I realized that I had been so preoccupied with writing this morning that I had not yet done any reading. So I opened my Bible to the book of Psalms where I have been reading this week and turned to Psalm 46 where I left off yesterday…and there it was! I read it once, then again. Then yet again a few more times in different versions and paraphrases.
As I said earlier, there should have been no shortage of topics to write on today. The tension between Americans right now seems to be at an all-time high. The pandemic seems to have changed much of life as we have come to know it, and even the experts seem to disagree continually about what the next step should be. The political climate of our nation seems to be coming off the rails. Normalcy seems to have gone AWOL. Life today seems even more unpredictable than ever!
So I have given up for this week…I will not write…I will repost excerpts from an old ‘post’, one reportedly written around 701 BC. Why? Because it speaks wonderfully to all of the current issues and concerns I was having so much difficulty addressing this morning.
Psalm 46:1-3, 10, 11 (NLT)
God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge!… “Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.” The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here among us; the God of Israel is our fortress.
Enough said.