I can't remember if Claire said Dave and I should go out into the grass for a photo, or if I said it! But we did, and I'm so glad she captured a moment that typifies these past weeks we've been home because of quarantine.
Never in all of our years here in this house, in sixteen years, have we been home for this long without having somewhere to go! It has been such a joy to watch the season progress every day, and enjoy a slowness that we don't usually experience.
Claire's roommate, who lives with her in the next town over, is quarantining with her sister in Scotland, and still can't come back to Czech. So we've seen more of Claire during this season too, as she will pop over on any given day for coffee, conversation or even work.
I would have said before the virus hit us and locked things down, that we were a close family. But God has taken closeness to a whole other level in this season!
It reminds me of books I read in my childhood, like "Little House on the Prairie" where they didn't have close neighbors, or had blizzards that shut them in their houses for weeks or months, which ended up drawing them closer to each other.
I know there must be many family situations during these days where it is not safe or happy for them to be quarantined together. That has weighed on my heart for a few situations that I know of like that. I've prayed for them, that somehow God redeems this time for them too, even though it's so difficult.
But I remember a mentor friend telling me years ago, "You can't take on the burdens of others by pushing away his blessings on you. The two can be held in tension - fully embracing both." That is a conundrum to me, but one I know is God's heart.
Philippians 4:11-13 Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
So I pray for those who are experiencing hardship during quarantine; and receive God's kindness to our family for his blessings during this time.
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