Amid this crisis, we are blessed – Rev Rawding

‘We are so blessed’. That’s been a mantra in our house recently. When my wife and I look at what is happening in other parts of the world, in Europe, or even in London where our parents and siblings live, we look at each other and say: ‘We are blessed.’

 

Blessed to live in a house with a garden. Blessed to see birds and daffodils, trees and fields, from our kitchen window. Blessed to have some of our children with us in the house. Blessed to have shops nearby. Blessed to live in Mid Ulster. Blessed to live in a country with the NHS. Blessed to be alive.

 

If we take time to think about it, the blessings go on.

 

We could focus on the negatives. Sometimes we do. We have had to cancel trips to celebrate a birthday with an older daughter, and a son. Our young twins have not been able to play with other children. We have felt trapped and restricted. There has been fear and uncertainty. But overall, we still feel blessed.

One source of blessing has been the kindness and generosity we have seen from our neighbours in Coalisland. The sense of community. The reassurance that we’re all in this together.

 

It’s been so heartening to see the activism and the goodwill, to see the love expressed across Mid Ulster, love for our neighbours, love for the carers. Long may it flourish, take root, and continue.

 

In this time when the threat of coronavirus seems to be overwhelming, it’s healthy for us to reflect on our blessings. Thankfulness, or gratitude, is a healthy emotion.

 

Psychologists have conducted studies that link thankfulness to better well-being and health. All the main religions encourage thankfulness. Philosophers have encouraged it too, like Cicero (106-43 BC): ‘Gratitude is not only the greatest of the virtues, but the parent of all of the others’.

 

So please consider. What, right now, can I be thankful for? What can I see, and hear, and touch, and sense that I can be thankful for? Who can I be thankful for? And who can I be thankful to? You may want to write and keep a gratitude journal. You could write a ‘thank you’ card. Or send a ‘thank you’ text; make a ‘thank you’ call; put a ‘thank you’ sign in your window. You could even thank someone in your own home – that can be the most difficult thing to do.

 

The Gospel Reading that was set to be read in most churches on Sunday was the story about Lazarus being raised from the dead.

 

Initially Jesus did not respond quickly to hearing about Lazarus being ill. Lazarus died before Jesus got to see him. ‘Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died!’ said Martha, Lazarus’s sister.

Martha was not feeling blessed. Martha needed to express how she was feeling: angry, frustrated, out of control, resentful, sad.

 

In that moment Martha was not open to the bigger picture or what good might come out of this. Her brother was dead and that was all that mattered.

 

Some of us may not feel blessed. Even talk of others being blessed may make us feel angry. Others’ freedom to express kindness could make us resentful.

 

Some of us are just struggling to survive, to get through each day.

Faced with Martha’s emotions: ‘Jesus wept’.

If you’re not feeling blessed, that’s OK. Please don’t let it define you. Don’t make it an ‘I am..’; keep it ‘I feel…’

 

Be honest with yourself, and above all kind to yourself. It will pass. Divine love weeps with you.

Divine love understands. Divine love empathises. Divine love will keep you safe. Divine love is bringing to birth resurrection new life.

 

I started with ‘We are blessed.’ And I genuinely believe we are. Let your heart know about it and those around you too.

 

God bless you.