Donna Putney

We’ve made it to May. It is so exciting to see new life springing up everywhere.

Approximately seven weeks ago, we personally began feeling the effects of COVID-19. I was in a Zoom meeting with several other pastors and we were asked what Bible verse we were thinking about as almost every aspect of our lives was changing.

My response was Luke 12: 25, which is, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?” (NIV).

These words make so much sense and sound so easy to understand and follow, but in reality, it means surrendering control that we prefer to have over our lives.

So what do we do? We fall back on our beliefs and understanding that God cares for us and is with us through the difficult times as well as our celebratory times when life is flowing just the way we planned.

I hear people saying that they want life to be normal again. I’m not sure I can describe normal, because what may be normal for me, may not be normal for someone else. And the normal we should be striving for as we return to an unquarantined life should be the normal God has been seeking for us from the beginning of time.

My 2-month-old granddaughter reminded me on a warm Minnesota March day how to let go of any anxiousness I may be feeling and focus on God’s normal.

I had returned to Minnesota to assist my parents with transitioning to a stay-in-place lifestyle. While I was there, I had the opportunity to spend time with our newest grandchild, who was 2 months old.

One day, I had the privilege of taking her outside for the first time. We walked out into her yard and as I watched her this is what I observed: Her eyes did not like the brighter light, but she kept trying to squint to see anyway. When the birds sang, she couldn’t help but listen. When children rode by on their bikes laughing, she turned her head toward the sound, and when the wind blew, she tried to hide her head in her blanket, uncertain what was happening. And, when the train went through town and they blew its whistle, I saw a hint of a smile. As we listened to all the noises around us, her world grew larger. She was experiencing what it is like to be in God’s world and in community with what God created.

But who truly learned the most during that 15-minute visit outside? I did. I was brought back to Luke 12: 25, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?”

When the stress of what is happening today becomes too much to handle, focus on the good of the world around us and see God’s creation as if you are experiencing it for the first time through the eyes of a 2-month-old.

Here is a list of inspiring quotes that I want to share with you that brighten my anxious days:

• The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.

• Focus on the good.

• Miracles happen.

• When you realize that HEART and EARTH are spelled with the same letters, it all starts to make sense.

• I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

• Sometimes you need to let go of the picture that you thought life would be like and learn to find joy in the story you are living.

• Never lose hope. You never know what tomorrow will bring.

• Choose love, show grace, have faith.

(Donna Putney is the pastor of Hope Lutheran Church in Powell.)