Better Days Ahead Despite Current Situation

So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while.”

1 Peter 1:6 NLT

https://www.bible.com/116/1pe.1.6.nlt

Q3.  Granddaughter built the fort.  Dogs slept in it.

It's Q33 for us today.  Each night my husband asks "What's on the schedule for tomorrow?  We both giggle. We're retired.  Our life revolves around the currently trending phrase "with an abundance of caution."  The highlights of our days are trips to the grocery store pickup line.  We drive to the store, pop the trunk, thank the kind loader of the groceries with a smile and a wave from the safety of our car and drive home.  The rest of our days are spent "hunkered in" the safety of our little house.

Perhaps you are likewise hunkered in.  Perhaps you are one of those essential workers that make my life safe and comfortable. Let me pause to say to The Essential Troopers- THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It may seem like these strange COVID 19 Quarantine days will never end.  We ponder the why and the when.  Today's sixth verse provides a better point on which to focus. The sixth verse of 1 Peter is ripe with wisdom for such a time as this one we experience.  The promise of "wonderful joy" in the future "even though" we must endure trials. 

My eyes are first drawn to various trials.  Isn't that where we start...the trials, the burdens, the inconveniences.  Yet the more meaningful words are "even though" and "wonderful joy".

"Even though."  These words act as a slap on the face.  A snap out of it.  A look up, not down. In the span of my life of 66 years how do 33 days relate?  I did a rough calculation of my total days on Earth.  My Q days amount to .00136324.  Hmmm... pretty miniscule. No wonder, my mom's favorite advice was "in the span of eternity, how important will this be?"

I choose to ignore the "various trials" words and focus on the "wonderful joy" awaiting me, and you.  As the celebrities on TV remind us, oh so many times each day, "we will get through this." 

With every challenge, I am given an opportunity.  In my time of an abundance of caution, how will I best use it?  How will I learn to improve life, mine and others? How will I memorialize this blip in the span of eternity to focus my attention on the wonderful joy awaiting me, and you, in the future?

I've made quilts and scrapbooks for other change points in my personal Earth history.  What will remind me of the Q days when they end?  I'm pondering my memorial of the past .00136324 of my life.  One act will be a precious reminder of this experience...The handshake.  From now on, if I ever am offered a hand to shake in greeting, I will appreciate the enormity of the gift.

I've learned from this current trial the value of a human touch and how precious it is.  I'm also reminded that Jesus touched my life in a precious way when He invited me into a personal relationship with Him.  Today's verse reminds me that while other humans may be cautious when touching my hand, Jesus continues to hold my hand through this and any future trials.  There is the wonderful joy!