“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
So begins the book “A Tale of Two Cities” going some way to summarising our experience of the Pandemic which impacted us this year. The announcement of schools closing initially was met with a hurrah by students heralding it as the “best of times.” However, after several months it became the “worst of times” with end of year and graduating not being the experience students hoped for.
We had wisdom from experts but sadly foolishness too in not protecting vulnerable health workers and those in nursing homes. There was light as we enjoyed a time of sunny days and darkness as we saw the numbers and the faces of those who had lost their lives. For us it meant long days studying for David as he finished his Masters in Applied Theology, made all the more challenging due to lack of personal contact with mentors. We spent time with our grandchildren most days. There was some home-schooling and lots of outdoor activities where Riloh learned to fly a kite and Luna learned to ride her bike!
As the weeks passed I longed to be able to meet up with loved ones again. I was struck recently that with God we can come near “with unveiled (unmasked?) faces” and approach His throne with confidence because of Jesus. We are moving towards winter, but not the winter of despair because we are a people of hope, In quoting from Isaiah 61 Jesus promised His believers “a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair”, so we look to Him and continue to praise and believe!