Sunday Afternoon Tea - Take Courage

Just when our nervous systems were calming down a bit from the events of a world wide pandemic, the race riots began and even Instagram was no longer a safe place to enjoy a mental vacation.

I admit to feeling anxiety as the world continues to fall into chaos and it became even more apparent that those who hold onto my worldview no longer have very much control of the culture, or at least the media who are showing the images over and over.

To be honest, I think the feelings I experienced were as much grief than anxiety.  I know God holds the future but I certainly miss the America I once knew and I'm certain friends in other countries feel the same.  It is much like visiting a foreign country one has never been to before, without knowing the language or the layout of the surroundings.  I feel lost in the midst of a crazy world.

However, one day earlier in the week, I was standing at my sink and looking out the window when I heard that Still Small Voice say... "take courage".  It was as if I could feel Aslan's breath whispering in my ear and courage pour over me as one would use oil to anoint a king in ancient Israel.

I had been reading His Word but still felt unsettled.  I quickly realized that I had also been doing exactly what I know is not wise in these uncertain times.  I was watching the news, scrolling Facebook, and not staying away from Instagram when it became political once again.  It doesn't matter if what people on social media say is the truth (and there is that element that is anything but the truth)... it still becomes a battlefield for the mind.

When I felt Aslan God tell me to "take truth", I had a mental image of actually taking with force, as one would pick vegetables from a garden filled with weeds.  Ummm... not that my old garden ever became full of weeds, mind you.  ;)

Since then, I've been getting information from some trusted news sources and staying away from most television news.  It is the way God made me that I can watch an "end of the world as we know it" video on YouTube without my heart fluttering faster at all but when the national evening news comes on after the local news... it gets turned off as fast as certain horror movies!

I know I'm getting off track, which is something one is not suppose to do as a writer, but it is fascinating what one person can handle and then... not so much.  I take delight in an afternoon TV marathon of shows about people hunting for a huge furry monster known as Bigfoot in the woods but cover my eyes at the commercials about other creepy mysteries.  Go figure...

So to return to my original thoughts, I found courage rising up within as I concentrated on the pretty flowers and herbs growing on the deck.  My husband was (and is) storing bags of mulch on the deck until he can get to a project where he will use them.  They are not pretty and they remind me of projects still undone.

So I moved the deck chairs in front of the sacks to deflect them from sight when looking out the window.  Yes, I am getting serious about this taking courage from what I am allowing my eyes to settle upon.  Flowers.  Not plastic bags full of mulch.

I finished a nonfiction audio book and decided it was time to "take courage" by listening to Jan Karon's In the Company of Others for a mental vacation.  I had started the book when it first came out many years ago but gave up on it.  It was too hard to follow and the Irish brogue was hard to read.  However, many blog readers told me it is excellent on Audible so when I joined Audible last Fall, it was the first fiction book I picked with the monthly credit.  I'll let you know how it is going on a future Book Talk post.

During the complete self isolation period, I did a lot of downsizing of the closet, the accessories in rooms, and shelves in the garage.  Which resulted in four boxes of stuff sitting in the Study for Goodwill.  We've been dropping them off slowly but surely since one still has to sort their own donations in boxes outside of the store.  It has been a source of peace to get rid of all but one box and it will be leaving the Study next week.

I have been taking courage by noticing that changes in nature are occurring exactly as they have for generations.  As I drove home from town last week, a splash of color on the side of the road gave evidence that the wild orange ditch lilies have bloomed, just as they have around Father's Day since I was a child.

They are the flower I most associate with my own father and seeing them bloom wild on the side of country roads as always each year... just as they did on the gravel roads I walked with my dad as a little girl... reminded me that another Father knows exactly what is going on in the world and His ultimate will is being accomplishd.

Aslan is on the move, my friends.  

Mentioned in this Blog Post
In the Company of Others by Jan Karon.  Info... here.

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