Psalm 36.5-11 Refuge under the shadow of your wings

As Spring slowly begins to arrive in northern Michigan, I am contemplating what I would want to be new and changed, given a rebirth at the end of this Holy Week. It’s been a tumultuous time in my life. So much so that it is hard to believe it has already been, yet only been, a little less than 6 months since my husband I relocated from West Virginia to Michigan.

A new position for my husband, a shift in job priority for me. A cold stay in my mother’s cabin for two months. Buying a house. Still trying to sell a house. Banks moving unbearably slow in the mortgage process with seemingly little regard to those who are affected by their lack of expediency. The loss of a beloved family pet. Struggling to recruit therapy clients. Paperwork, interviews, meetings, and stress, transferring to a new UMC Conference. Packing. Unpacking. Setting up a new home. Adjusting to being around family. Snowstorms. Wind storms. And so much more.

We all have what feels like a million different things going on in our lives. Daily struggles, chronic and long-term struggles, temporary inconveniences, life, thankfully, in so many ways, doesn’t stop. We get bombarded with negativity and sometimes, toxic positivity that serves only to make us feel worse about feeling bad or overwhelmed. This too shall pass. Yes, I know it will. But right now, I’m ready for it to pass even if God is not.

The only thing that does not change is God’s steadfast love. It extends to the heavens, faithfulness in the clouds that seem to drop nothing but snow around here. A rock as mighty as the highest mountains.

And yet this next line brings comfort, “your judgments are like the great deep; you save humans and animals alike, O LORD.” God does judge us deeply and God has judged you worthy. You are strong enough to endure change, to adapt.

Humans and animals alike are judged and loved. A deer stared at me through my sliding glass door the other day, standing just on the edge of my deck, judging me inadequate for my apple tree, having run out of apples. During this time of renewal, a walk toward death, the life surrounding me brings me comfort. Knowing that God exists in both human and animal alike.

I have never seen so much variety in wildlife. A half dozen different kinds of ducks, geese, loons, swans, all paddling around in the beautiful river God has blessed me to be able to see every day outside of my home. Four different kinds of pine trees. Two different types of oak. I have no idea what all these different bushes are. An incredible celebration of diversity all within 100 feet of my home. An incredible celebration of tumultuous change and what it is capable of accomplishing.

We live in the shadow of God’s wings. Sometimes it’s dark here. Sometimes God has to pull us in tighter like a mother hen to protect us from an unknown enemy. The darkness of the shadow is as comforting as the faithfulness of the clouds in the heavens above. There is abundance all around us if we do not get stuck in what we want but instead revel in what is given.

As the psalmist is concerned with the foot of arrogance treading upon them, let us not be the foot of arrogance that treads upon others, including ourselves. Let us not be the hand of the wicked but the hand of the kind. Let us be the hand that reaches out to others and lifts them up when they have been knocked down. Let us be who others can see God through. Let us be examples of God’s love here on earth, embracing all of God’s creation, saving humans and animals alike.

God’s love is truly steadfast to those who know them and the salvation they offer to the upright of heart. Let us be upright of heart!

This Holy Week is not meant to be a joyful celebration but a mournful celebration. It is a time to celebrate trial and tribulation, wickedness and evil. A time to celebrate that we are given opportunities to witness God in our lives through all that which does not go the way we want it. A reminder that this world isn’t about just us. It certainly isn’t about me.

I can list my own trials and tribulations, knowing that they are not complaints but acknowledgements of how God is working in my life, constantly creating change. I don’t want my life to be stagnant and boring. I want it to be filled with, well, life. I want to see the diversity of the world that God has created around me.

So walk confidently this week in God’s steadfast love. Acknowledge your trials, tribulations, struggles, and fears. Be thankful for them! Bear witness to them and watch God change them. Share with others how God is changing them.

This Sunday, I get to celebrate my new home with some of my family members. Not all of them can make it. There will be other dinners held here, picnics, and parties. There will be so much celebration in this home that God has blessed me with. But, in order to be able to have those joyful celebrations, I must also be willing to confidently endure the mournful celebrations which will also take place here. God’s steadfast love will be present through them all.

So, what would I change? Nothing.