All will be well---so give up

As I am writing this devotion we are still in the season of Lent. Lent is the 40 day period (not counting Sunday’s) that is from Ash Wednesday to Easter. This year that means Lent began on February 26 and ends on April 11.

            Lent is a beautiful gift of preparation, of self-denial and reflection. Lent is also a time that many people choose to give up something, or pick up a new something in their life, with the hope and expectation that this 40 day period will be a time that they draw closer to God.

            I have given up many material things during Lent over the years. One year I gave up Mtn. Dew (and I still haven’t drank one since), one year I gave up meat (and then ate an entire bag of beef jerky right after the Easter worship service—thanks Bob Fletcher!). Giving up things for a period of time is good for us.

            And yet as I am writing this devotion there is so much more going on in the world than just Lent. And yet, Lent is still here, among us, even as we are in the midst of so much today.

            In the past couple of weeks we have been asked to give up many things. Not just Christians giving up chocolate or Mtn. Dew’s for Lent, but as humans giving up things for the benefit and well-being of other humans amid a global pandemic.

            We have been asked to give up some travel. Stay home.

            We have been asked to give up some eating out. Stay home.

            We have been asked to give up meeting together in church sanctuaries. Stay home.

            We have been asked to give up gathering in groups. Stay home.

            We have been asked to give up being in physical contact with others, and we have even been asked to maintain distance between others.

            We have been told to clean, wash, disinfect. Things that are always a good idea, just saying.

            And as we have been told to give up these things for a while, I watched the fear and anxiety increase through the news on TV, and even in my neighborhood. Just walk down the toilet paper aisle at Wal-Mart, or try to find bleach at Dollar General, or bread at Food City, and you see firsthand our human reaction.

            In the giving up of these things, some people have picked up many other things. Fear, worry, anxiety. And it’s no wonder. When all you hear is the media outlets, the social media hysteria, and the doomsday prophecies there is little room for anything else.

            So how about right now, right in the heart of the Lenten season, we just go ahead and give up. We’ve been giving up many other things anyway, so why not give up a few more things today?

            Give up fear.

                        “The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?”--Psalm 27:1

            Give up worry.

                        “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”—Matthew 6:25-27

            Give up anxiety.

                        “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”—1 Peter 5:7

            Give up hoarding.

                        “The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.”—Proverbs 22:19

            Give up running.

                        “Be still and know that I am God”—Psalm 46:10

            Give up control.

                        “Then he went a short distance farther and fell on his face and prayed, “My Father, if it’s possible, take this cup of suffering away from me. However—not what I want but what you want.”—Matthew 26:39

            God has got this. He’s got the whole world in His hands. And He loves you and cares for you. Be strong in Him, be courageous as a child of the Most High God. Do not fear and do not worry. For God is with you. God is with us. And it is well.

            “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well” (Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love).