I turned on the television and within minutes there was hateful sarcastic speech, so I turned it off. Then I went to my email and read a Next Door Neighbor question where within minutes a comment popped up that was very inflammatory about the area in which we live. I backed out of that site quickly.

I have determined that anything said or written that is dark or mean spirited is just going to be eliminated from my life! I move away from it! I have to say, in a country where people have been blessed with so much, there seems to be so much discontent and unhappiness, and it saddens me greatly! I have seen people in other countries with so much less than we have here in America and they actually seem happier than people in our society do. Maybe less really is more.

Our church opened for services in the new church building but we did not attend. We do watch it virtually and it was nice to see that people were in attendance. It was far from full due to covid restrictions for our sector of society. We are advised by our government to stay home and stay well.

I miss our old life. I miss the coming and going and mingling with people. We are still here sheltering in place after 10 months. While we have discovered that we are most likely introverts, based on how well we have been doing, we are finding the lack of socialization to be a huge loss! That said, it has had its positive side as well!

We finally had time to do things we had such limited time for before. Reading, clearing out and downsizing things, painting, repairs, gardening and trimming on our property, etc. etc. We have been doing devotions in a leisurely fashion rather than having to squeeze them into a busy schedule! Time has been a gift to us, though it is countered with a longing for communion with our friends and family.

Today a friend of ours was working security at our church and he texted us to see how we were doing. This was the first Sunday service in our newer, much larger church. I dearly love our former, small, chapel type church and I know I will miss it. So, since we could not be there, I asked him to send me a photo of the new church cross. I felt so uplifted when I saw it because the cross and the Bible are the foundation of our church.

God feels closer and more present to me now in times of covid than ever before. He has always been an important presence in my life, but these days I am leaning a littler harder into Him because I long for peace in this world. I am so incredibly grateful to my Mother for teaching me about Him in the form of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit! I am grateful to know about the gracious and free gift of life everlasting. How would we feel without that promise? I cannot imagine!

Blessings to all as we approach Thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for!

God bless!

jjb/11/15/2020