VIII.
REJOICE IN BEAUTY
This is the day that God has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24)
These days I am homeschooling my two grands, age nine and seven During a break time, I decided to turn on some songs from my well-spent youth. Songs like Led Zeppelin’s “Ramble On,” Blind Faith’s “Can’t Find my Way Home,” and then a song from my thirties, U2’s “It’s a Beautiful Day” in which Bono describes a lively, interdependent world, and the amazing wonder of each thing, and then counsels, “It’s a beautiful day – don’t let it slip away.”
As I walk the beach each morning, I experience the contrast of beauty of Cape Cod beaches with the anxiety created by the pandemic. We know that we have challenges ahead. Denial is more than a river in Egypt! Denial can be a matter of life and death. We recognize the risk to all that we hold dear and this helps us prepare as persons, as a church, and as communities, states, and nations. Recognition of our situation is the pathway to agency!
Yet, remember it is a beautiful day – don’t let it slip away. Practicing physical distancing, you can take a walk, go to a beauty spot nearby, or if you live in an apartment or are homebound, look at your window delighting in the beauty of the earth.
Beauty is all around us! Reach out in love to another! The pandemic can’t touch it! Let us give thanks!
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Holy One, help me to see beauty and then do something beautiful for God each day. Amen.
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Bruce Epperly is a Cape Cod pastor, professor, and author of over 50 books including “Experiencing God in Suffering: A Journey with Job,” “Become Fire: Guideposts for Interspiritual Christians,” and the upcoming “Faith in a Time of Pandemic.”
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