This is a talk given to the IBI student body and staff at the beginning of semester 2 (Jan 2021). By Joan Singleton

We are living in unusual and difficult times: there are a lot of restrictions and a lot of uncertainty. I want us to think about how we live in these days.

I have based this talk around a sentence that I have been thinking about in Psalm 62:

We face these days honestly together with God

1. We face these days together.

We need each other. Isolation can be a dreadful thing. One of the worst forms of torture that, sadly, is still used in places today is solitary confinement. One of the worst things some people are facing today is being on their own or feeling that they are on their own.

I listened recently to a talk by a clinical psychologist about stress. He had several headings, and the key one was “Connect!” He said that it is very important that we feel part of something that is bigger than ourselves. The Bible tells us that we are part of the body of Christ, we are not alone. And it is important that we give active expression to that by being actively involved in church whatever way that is functioning at the minute. We need to keep in touch with people. If we are feeling isolated we may need to take the initiative and make contact with someone. We are not facing these days alone; we face them honestly together with God.

2. We face these days together with God.

God is with us and can enable us to face any circumstance as we trust him. We have normally lots of good things in our lives and a lot of freedom and activities and that is good. But there is a danger that we can let things, activities and even people be a substitute for knowing God or our knowing God can become a bit second hand, coming from other people. Our relationship with God needs to be personal, real and active each day. I have never starved myself because I like food so much, but I know that I have starved myself spiritually at times and then wondered why I felt so dry spiritually and so distant from God.

At the beginning of Psalm 62, we read,

“My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I shall never be shaken.”

But then interestingly in v. 5, the psalmist is encouraging himself to take action,

“Find rest O my soul, in God alone.”

At times we need to encourage ourselves to live what we know to be true.

I had a very vivid picture of this in the summer. We had a plant growing up our back wall that was not flowering. We decided to get rid of it, so we cut the stems just above the roots. By the next day, the leaves had wilted and after a few days, it was easy to pull the plant off the wall because it died. The strength came from the roots and we cut off the connection to the source of life for the plant. Do you get the picture? We cannot live for God, authentic real lives that show him to others, if we don’t keep connected to the source – God himself, and all the sources of nourishment that he has provided. We face these honestly together with God.

3. We face it honestly together with God.

Psalm 62:8 says,

“Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.”

Trusting God and pouring out our hearts to him when we are finding these days tough are not opposites!!

As well as being honest with God we need to have people we can be honest with, who will let us talk and say what we are finding hard.

This also means that we need to be listeners who really listen and do not prevent people from talking with what we think is reassurance but is little more than telling people that we don’t really want to hear. If someone is really worried about something, telling them that they do not need to worry is not reassuring. It is just telling them that they shouldn’t be worried, which, of course, will not stop the worry but will stop them from being able to talk about it.

Honesty with God and with others is very important in these days.

4. We face these days honestly together with God.

Not only do we need to be honest with others, but we also need to be honest with ourselves and reflect on what we are learning in these days. If we just wish every day wasn’t a day in lockdown, we can miss the good things and the opportunity in these days to get to know God and to get to know ourselves better. It is really important to face what you are feeling and what you are finding really difficult and think about why. We can all fill our lives, our minds, our ears, our hearts with things, even good things, and ignore important things God wants to show us.

I have learned that sometimes when something is really bothering me or there is something I don’t want to think about I have gone shopping and bought something to make me feel better. Now for me looking around shops is a good way of relaxing and I am not saying that we shouldn’t buy new things. But if I am buying myself something that I don’t need as an avoidance of something that I need to face, then that is not good.

In order to help us face these days, it is important that we plan good things into our weeks: I have some practical suggestions below

Do we just want to go back to pre Covid ways of living? For me, I hope I have learned some things and that some of the changes will stay. Let us not miss the opportunity this time is giving us to learn and to grow. It is a great time to take a step back and evaluate our attitudes and practices. Why do we do what we do? Why do we think in the ways that we do?

Something that really helps us to face these days is to look for things every day to be thankful for. Before the pandemic came I watched an RTE programme about stress. One of the participants went for counselling sessions and one of the main bits of advice she was given was this: get yourself a notebook and every night when you are going to bed write in it three things that you are thankful for. It could be a direct quotation of Phil 4! Being thankful to our God can help us begin to get our lives in perspective.

 Here are some practical tips for these strange days; they have been grouped together in broad themes

 

1. Structure
Keep a structure in your days (and weeks); this is important for children as well.

Try to make the weekends different in some way, for example, activities you do, what you eat, even where you walk.

2. Rest 

Find ways to keep work and home life separate.
Try to stick to similar work hours; turn work screens off.

Take time away from digital devices.

3. Exercise
Get regular exercise and vary what you do: walking, cycling, YouTube exercises, dancing, home workouts.

4. Beauty
Deliberately look at and take pleasure in God’s creation: look at the sky, listen to birds singing, watch spring flowers grow, etc.

5. Creativity
Try a new skill or hobby or interests or develop existing ones.
Make something or grow something: baking (yes, even pandemic banana bread!), cooking (try some new recipes, ready for all the visitors you are going to have in the future!), crafts, woodwork, etc.
Rearrange the furniture!!  (my husband says there is only so much of this you can do!)

Paint a room (again!).

6. Laughter
Read or watch something that you know will make you laugh.

7. Community
Get to know your neighbours (socially distanced, of course).
Keep in contact with others; take initiative to do this.
Have people with whom you can be honest with and be honest.

8. Perspective and aims
Have realistic aims for the day, week, month: things you want to do, read, watch, clean, make, people to contact. 

If you are not working, try doing things you have been meaning to, for example, sorting the photos, tidying the shed/attic, etc. 

Try not to think or look too far ahead; there is “enough grace for each day.”

Avoid "doomscrolling" (a pandemic word); Wikipedia defines it as "consuming a large quantity of negative online news at once."
Be careful how much news you watch and listen to; once or twice a day may be enough. And make sure you get your news from a trusted source; social media is not a trusted source for news.

9. Our walk with God
Take this time as an opportunity to get to know yourself better and to get to know God better and grow with him.
Be grateful for church; it makes Sunday different!!     

Practice active gratitude - Col 3:17