Dear friend,
There are times in life when words fail me, when I don’t know what to say.
This may be one of those times.
You see, I don’t have the right descriptors for this year. No word really covers it. 2020 has been, well, frustrating, lonely, disconnected, and worse—like some dystopian novel.
Okay, it seems some words are available, or at least some imagery. But it’s been challenging hasn’t it?
And so, I’m sorry. I’m sorry this year has been like this. I’m sorry I haven’t seen you. I’m sorry I’ve been disconnected. This microscopic super-virus has made fools of us all. It snuck up on us, sending us all into spirals of confusion. It disoriented us and our habits of connection, whether over coffee, or at the park.
But friend, I’m still here. And I wanted you to know.
So, how you are?
Have you found the weight of this season too heavy? Has the gloom of monotony scooped you into its darkness? Has the disconnection of life and all its rhythms sent you off course?
That is, R U OK? Like really?
In this year of all years, it would be pretty normal to say ‘no, I’m not ok, and this yo yo life is doing my head in.’
Because, in this year of all years, it would be pretty normal to say “no”.
It would be normal to say “I’m not ok, and this yo yo life is doing my head in.” Or to say “My life feels like it’s in limbo, waiting eagerly for a vaccine!”
Yes, I want to know your pain and how I can help, because I want to know you. I want to know your heart. I want to hear your stories.
Corona may have separated us from one another, but it can’t separate us from being known. I want to know you, and be known by you.
At the risk of getting all psychological on you, being known is a thing. Connection to others and to something beyond ourselves is key to human flourishing.
In their list of protective factors, Beyond Blue call this connection:
… feeling a sense of belonging to something bigger than themselves—community, culture, religion,…..
Connection – especially to something greater than ourselves—is vital if we’re to do life well.
Beyond Blue are on to something. Connection – especially to something greater than ourselves—is vital if we’re to do life well.
But Christian author J I Packer took it a step further. He said it’s not just about knowing one another. It’s about being connected to a purpose—a person—beyond ourselves. It’s about being connected to God.
Knowing God is a relationship calculated to thrill a person’s heart.
Do you know the thrill of knowing God? Do you bask in being known by your Maker? Of knowing that there is purpose, dare I say, even to these Corona days?
It’s a vast claim isn’t it? To claim that even in the midst of pandemic there might be some sense of order in disorder. Clarity in confusion. Hope in dismay.
So yes, R U Ok? I want to know. I actually do.
But also, are you known?
Not just by me, but by the Maker that thrills our hearts? By the One who calls us to something much greater than ourselves?
To know him and to be known by him.
Dear Friend, I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people (Ephesians 1:18)
To find out more about knowing God click here.
