A person who has set out digging for gold doesn’t give up the first time they don’t find it. No, they keep digging because they know it’s there...somewhere.
There is goodness inside all of us. And yet this season is revealing much.
Currently we have family longing to see their grandkids, even families being split apart for months. The suffering is enormous, but have you thought about what is consequently being cultivated? The bible talks a lot about long-suffering - and right now some are experiencing it more than others.
So, what is being revealed?
Australian spirit
Who are we? We are strong and we have a strong sense of mateship. We are generous and we are resilient.
Please don’t tell me the children and young people of today aren’t resilient. No one ever told me as a child that I wasn’t allowed to leave my house or play with my friends at the nearby playground. No one in our generation has had to go through what they have had to go through today.
Please don’t tell me people are resilient. The number of people I have met in the last two weeks who have had to change careers due to COVID-19 has been mind-blowing. Once a chef, now an apprentice hairdresser; a businessman now working as an orderly and a gentleman who used to run outdoor education camps now driving trucks. Only to name a few.
We get knocked down and we get up again. AKA We “pivot.”
Divide and conquer
This saying so clearly depicts where we are at as a community but hopefully not where we want to be. States disagreeing, communities driven apart, health authorities arguing, families divided. But surely this is not where we want to be.
We only split up in life to achieve more…. to ‘conquer’ more.
Let’s make sure we don’t allow this season to drive us apart from one another.
So, what’s the answer?
To learn that I am not responsible for anyone else’s actions - I am only responsible for mine.
I get to decide if I want to bring joy, happiness, love, kindness, peace into a situation, conversation or work environment. I decide. No one else can decide that for me, or for you for that matter.
I can choose to show kindness in a world full of heart and anguish.
I can choose gratitude in a season that is confronting on a number of different levels.
I can choose joy in a dark time.
I can choose peace when there is mass confusion.
I can choose self-control when I start talking about how awful things are right now.
I can choose faithfulness in a fear driven society.
I can still choose generosity in a global pandemic.
I can choose gentleness when most seem angry, frustrated and harsh.
I encourage you today, keep digging. God is still powerfully at work; He is still on the throne. On the days where you feel overwhelmed, keep digging. On days where things seem hopeless, keep digging.
Don’t give up, goodness will be revealed.
Elise Pappas is a Pastor and together with her husband pastor a church on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. They have a son, Jonathan and a daughter, Sophie. Elise is a former clinical drug trial research coordinator and business owner. She writes about life and ministry experiences.