Time Like an Ever-Rolling Stream
Yesterday at the conclusion of worship Laura and I quickly left to meet the rest of our family to move Anna back in at Campbell University for her Sophomore year. It was a fast trip, and after a lot unpacking and a few tears we finally got home last night about 10:00. Early this morning Sophie and Laura, along with many other students in Powhatan, returned to school for the start of the 2021-2022 school year. Before going to school this morning Sophie made the comment that she has not had a “normal” school year since 9th grade. She started her senior year today. The pandemic started when Sophie was a Sophomore, Laura was still in elementary school, and Anna was a Senior. Since then, life has been a challenge.
For weeks and months we waited for life to return to “normal.” And when we did have glimpses of normalcy, I realized that nothing ever returns to normal. I would have chosen that when COVID ends that I could go back to a world where my children were the age they were when it started and have this time again without the pandemic. But when COVID is no longer a pressing threat there is no going back and “redoing.” The time is past. Like the hymn says, “Time (is) Like an Ever-Rolling Stream.”
Yesterday morning the Church Leadership Council (Pastoral Staff, Deacon Chair, President of the Board of Directors, Treasurer, Clerk, and two at-large members) met to discuss any needed changes because of the growing (again) pandemic. While this group is concerned with lowering the risk for spread at May Memorial activities, there is also the reality that we do not get this time back. So we want to be safe and careful. The Leadership Council encourages masks and I encourage you to get vaccinated. I will be in line to get the booster when I’m asked to do so. We need to do what we can, but what we cannot do is stop and live in a perpetual state of panic. We still have the work of being God’s people, and God’s people have a history of faithfully persisting in trying times. There are adjustments that may need to be made, but we move on, affirming the truth of Isaac Watt’s final stanza:
Our God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come,
Be thou our guard while troubles last, And our eternal home.