What is normal these days?
As I sit here on the front porch watching my girls ride bikes, I am drawn to the bees that flutter around and in the midst of the large bush in front of me. Just days ago, the bush began to blossom and is now covered in beautiful white flowers which will only last for a short while. The bees seem to be taking great advantage of the flowers and tiny ants crawl up and down the branches.
It occurs to me that even though my life has been halted, theirs continues completely uninterrupted.
They know nothing of a virus, being quarantined, or staying six feet apart from one another.
They are freely going about their day, business as usual.
I wonder when we will get back to the point that life seems normal - or maybe this is our new normal.
Why is it that all of the sudden my children find complete happiness in just our front yard, we are content to stay home, cook our own meals, and feel no sense of urgency to go buy something we have no need of?
Life is changing in so many ways yet there is so much that is the same.
This bush would have still bloomed, the bees would be pollinating it, and the ants would be scavenging for food. This is just how nature works.
But it is not how humans work.
We worry about cross contamination, daily death tolls, unemployment, economic crashes, food shortages, and who is politically right in all of this.
Scripture gives us some clarity here where Jesus says:
Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Matthew 6:25-30
We should be more like the bees and the ants, not allowing the pains of this world to get us down, to derail us. Our trust should be fully in our God, the one who provides and protects for even the smallest of creatures. If He would do so for them, how much more will he care for us
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Jesus goes on to say:
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
Matthew 6:31-32
We should put away all fear of what will happen next because our trust is in the Lord, the One who provides for the bees will provide even greater things for you and me.
He never changes.
He is a solid foundation.
When the storm is over, He still remains.
When everything seems to be changing, we can look at the flowers, the trees, the birds, and know that God is still the same yesterday, today and forever. This is my normal because God was in control of my life before the virus, and He will be in control of my life once it is gone.
