I didn’t write a Minute yesterday because I’m weary of hearing and talking about the coronavirus. I just want to live a normal life, although I’m not suggesting stopping the shutdown. I wanted to write something joyous but so many joyous Bible passages come after the believer has been delivered from evil. So I wrote nothing.
“Your heavenly Father knows” (Matthew 6:32). As the day progressed, little things, specific things, cheered my mood. One was recalling what Dr. Julie Gary wrote. She’s our Coordinator of Health and Wellness and has a Ph.D. in epidemiology. She wrote, “Although it is important to stay informed, reading too much (COVID-19) information, especially from sources that are not reputable can cause more stress. Get away from the news and escape for a bit in fiction, non-fiction, or the Bible.”
“Your heavenly Father knows.” Another mercy yesterday was a day filled with blue skies and sunshine. It brought out the beautiful colors in the red bud trees, the dogwoods, the greening grass and opening leaves, and the tulips in full bloom. “Ye flow’rs, so wondrous, sweet and fair; / Ye live to show His praise alone, / With me now make His glory known.” (The Lutheran Hymnal, 30, 3)
Another mercy, a little thing from the Father who loves us, was the carillon playing. Mr. John Klinger, our Chief Information Officer, spent an hour in Luther Tower playing the 49 bell carillon. His music included familiar hymns, “Speak, O Lord, Your Servant Listens,” “Thy Strong Word Did Cleave the Darkness,” and “The Church’s One Foundation Is Jesus Christ Her Lord.” Having memorized the words to those hymns, the music ministered to my need for joy.
And in the course of the day, I did recall a passage of joy for us, even amidst our troubles, Habakkuk 3:17-19. “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord is my strength.”
“Ev’ry morning mercies new / Fall as fresh as morning dew;
Ev’ry morning let us pay / Tribute with the early day;
For Thy mercies, Lord, are sure, / Thy compassions doth endure.”
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 537, 1)
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