Last fall I began a post I intended to complete, but as I’ve re-read it a few times I think it will settle as is.

Originally titled: Covid as receiving

I just listened to a webinar that was over a year old. It was recorded just a couple of months into our covid/lockdown journey in early 2020. Andrew Peterson struck a thought – he talked about how he’d seen the sunrise for weeks on end and one day he was standing out on his property and realized his brain was empty, he had no profound thoughts to share. He was simply receiving from God. 

I’ve had plenty of days as of late where no words come to mind for the feelings welling up in my soul. I’m now realizing that I was simply receiving. God is pouring out Himself in ways unbeknownst to us. In ways that simply leave us to receive. To soak. To meditate. To take Him at His words. 

I remember standing at two popular lookouts on the big island of Hawaii in May 2021. It was my first time there. State number 49 for me. Anyway, I stood at the Waipio Valley Lookout and the Pololu Valley Lookout and stared into the vast expanse of ocean. Of nothing but water. Both times I stood in the rain and simply received the gift of God’s unique and beautiful creation. 

Might it be possible that something as painstaking and jarring as a global pandemic was allowed by God to cause us to pause? To allow us to rest. To reset even…