As you are reading this, we are both probably in our respective homes following the lockdown announcement to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus.
In our case, we have been working from home since Monday, 23rd March as our Director had last Friday.
We are in a pandemic, and to stop the spread of the coronavirus, NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern declared Covid-19 Alert Level 3 yesterday afternoon. By midnight on Wednesday, the whole country will be on Alert Level 4.
Covid-19 Alert Level 4 means we all should be staying at home for four weeks and will only go out to buy essential needs. Stores will remain open throughout the lockdown, which is good.
Today mid-afternoon, 24 March, I went around the backyard for a short break from my work.
I noticed a cluster of bulbs that I hadn’t seen before. I later learned they are a variety of crocus. It has started blooming, showing its purple flowers.
A few metres away, I checked on the sweet potato (kumara) plant struggling to grow, and I saw a few more leaves appear.
I find inspiration and hope from these plants.
I’m sure they have their own growth challenges, but they are not giving up. They are surviving and providing the “fruits” expected of them.
I see them as symbols of hope and resilience, two key values that I needed during the Covid-19 lockdowns.
The kumara (or sweet potato) has one big growth challenge of the two plants. It is known to grow in tropical conditions only.
Yet, here it is, growing and surviving in a backyard of cold-weather Timaru.
May these thoughts inspire and encourage us through the Covid-19 lockdowns.
Wherever you are, in this season of staying at home, I have these thoughts to share:
- Please take the time to “stop and smell the roses” – looking and finding the good things that in your busy day-to-day routine you fail to see and behold.
- Let us search within ourselves and find out the values that you possess but they have “hybernated” because life has been so easy and blissful or maybe it is so hard and frustrating.
- Take the time to list what you have discovered and be joyful for one or more that you will discover. As the hymn says, “count your blessings and name them one by one.”
Stay home and take a lot of care.
Friends, if you need prayers or you want to read some words of encouragement through email, please feel free to contact us.
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