Two Choices

August is upon us. Not really sure how that happened. And yet, the new school year begins in just a few short weeks.

As is always the case, a new year brings excitement and also trepidation. This year more than most as we face yet another strange upturn of the pandemic that has been shadowing our globe these many months. Still, with the hope of greater availability of vaccines also on the horizon, I know many of us are looking toward the coming year with great expectations and enormous joy.

What will it be like, I wonder? What will the future bring, I wonder? (I can hear Julie Andrews singing in my head…)

Here is the funny thing, my friends: even if we were not recovering from this millennium’s first plague, we still would not know. The future is always a mystery. It always holds unfolding transformation that has already begun in our midst, even if we cannot see it yet. And we would still have to walk the path ahead only able to see the next few steps in front of us.

So, we have two choices. 

We can live in fear of what will happen. Always waiting for the next shoe to drop. The floor to fall out. The mountains to quake and the sea to rise. See life as an endless opportunity to be a victim of all the horrors and hardships that will inevitably come.

Or, we can choose to see the wonder of all that lay beyond. See the possibility of adventure in every turn. Realize that yes, trouble will come, but we are not alone. God is already ahead of us and walking with us. And there is much fun to be had along the way.

You all know what kind of year I have been having these last twelve months. And there are many moments when I feel like I am floundering and about to sink below the waves. However, several of you often comment that I still seem to be flourishing in the midst of all of the crazy tumult happening around me. If you ever wonder why, it is because I actively choose, every day, to live in the second option.

Won’t you come and join me?

Blessings, Pastor Janie