Here’s a little story.  I went to the store. I looked for toilet paper.  The shelves were empty. I saw the shelf-stocker with a pallet full of boxes, NOT containing TP.  I asked him if the store gets resupplied with TP every day or if the supply chain has broken down.  “Every day he said.” and even though the signs on the shelves say “Take only 5 or less,” by the time he reports to work the next day the store’s TP shelves are empty again.

Here’s another story. Long ago the Israelites were delivered by God from slavery in Egypt.  Their escape route took them right into the wilderness. After a few weeks of running, after the celebration of their exodus from their Egyptian slave masters, they were out of food and water.  Their cupboards were empty. God saw their dilemma and provided water and food, “Enough for every day,” he might have said.

Every day the Israelites gathered the manna and quail that God provided.  Every day they worked to gather a day’s worth of provisions (or two if the next day was the sabbath). Not three days or three weeks worth.  Daily needs. Daily bread. Enough for everyone, every day. And when the daily sun warmed things up out in the wilderness, the manna evaporated and the quail stayed away, until the next day.  The shelves were empty, but people’s cupboards were full. Day after day, week after week, year after year God provided in this way. God was in it for the long haul. He took care of his people.

As for the TP and other empty shelves at my store…  Since, my grocery shopping routine is more on a weekly rather than daily basis, I haven’t been back to see if the demand for TP has abated. I expect that I’ll be back again next week to get what’s needed in my house for the week ahead.  I’m just trying to stay normal in these rather abnormal times.

Even though I may have to do without some things and limit what I do because of some microscopic pathogen. I’m just trying to remember who it is that provides, has provided, will provide ‘daily bread’ for me and the ones I love. I know that God is in it for the long haul, eternally long, really.   And that is today’s gift and, of course, daily bread.

Here’s what happened when I went to the grocery store during these trying coronavirus times.

I went to the grocery store because I could.  The store was still open. It still had things that I needed.  Frankly, I just needed to get out of the house for a while. Be assured, I followed the social distancing, hand washing, don’t touch my face, etc. rules.  

And off I went.  I was first greeted by the grouchy greeter.  He’s an older gentleman about as tall as me, sporting a short-cropped gray beard.  He wore a comfortable jacket to ward off the cold air creeping into the store with the customers. The cap he had on was pulled down so that there was just a narrow slit through which to view the shoppers in need of a friendly greeting.  This is the guy that often is looking the other way when I come into the store. Or, if I do catch his eye, I’ll get what looks to me as the what-are-you-doing-here look.  Thus, the grouchy greeter.  

I walked past him and grabbed a cart.  I only needed a few things, but a cart would make things easier, even though the handle of which is the breeding ground for every variety of nasty germ known to humankind.  Not to worry since I spied the grouchy greeter with his spray bottle of disinfectant and roll of paper towel. Now, I had a decision to make. Just take my chances with the cart handle that has been who-knows-where or face disdain by asking for a squirt. What would it be plague or scorn?  In a split second, I figured plague would take longer to get over and scorn, well, I just kept repeating “sticks and stones, sticks and stones…”

With two fingers, I grabbed the pestiferous handle of the cart and casually walked it over to the greeter.  He looked at me like I was looking to make trouble. I tried to look like I was the friendliest guy around. A bit of a stretch for me, since sometimes I feel like I could be a grouchy greeter myself.  As I approached he peaked over his wire rims and arched his eyebrows. He waited for me to speak. I waited for him to speak. He was the one with the disinfectant and paper towels, after all. A standoff.

Parking the cart in front of him, I removed my two fingers from the handle and wiped them on my jeans.  I took a deep breath, I searched for his eyes peeking underneath his cap and looked at him and said, “Could I have a little spray?”

“Sure,” he said.

While he sprayed and wiped, I commented, with a smile I might add, “Most important job of the day, eh?”

He grinned and replied with some comment about his job.  But he grinned! I guess it really didn’t matter what he said.  He smiled. And that made me smile as I launched my search, germ-free, for my daily bread.

It’s ironic isn’t it, that because of this COVID-19 virus and the social distancing, that people are being kept apart.  Yet for one brief moment at the entrance to a grocery store, because of a grocery cart handle that needed to be disinfected, two guys could each come to the understanding that, “Hey, you’re not as grouchy as I thought!”

Perceptions shattered and a moment that made me smile…  Today’s gift.

When We Love
by Charles Anthony Silvestri

The towering tree spreads his greening canopy 
—A veil between the soil and sky—
Not in selfish vanity,
But the gentle thrush to shade and shelter. 
So it is with love.

For when we love,
Simply love,
Even as we are loved,
Our weary world can be transformed.

The busy thrush builds her nest below
—A fortnight’s work to weave and set— 
Not for herself alone,
But her tender brood to shield and cherish. 
And so it is with love.

For when we love,
Simply love,
Even as we are loved,
Our weary world can be transformed
Into the Kingdom of God!

It’s been about a week since the words of this poem wafted into my life.  It’s been a week where the simple words, “… simply love…” have coaxed their way into my mind and heart almost daily.

It was a week ago when the Dordt University Choir rolled into town on their spring tour.  The music was delightful, but it was the words of that song that stuck with me this past week.

For when we love,
Simply love,
Even as we are loved,
Our weary world can be transformed
Into the Kingdom of God!

I’m going to stop here.  I’ll let the words speak for themselves.  Today’s gift… to simply love.

——-

Note: I wrote this in the midst of the media frenzy regarding the corona virus pandemic.  Frankly, I had heard enough about it and wasn’t going to mention it here. However, it seems that to ‘simply love’ is a good reminder for these days.  My hope is that it will be what we also do in the days to come, even when the virus crisis is over and things settle down. After all, it is God’s Kingdom.

… and the link below will take you to Elaine Hagenberg’s choral rendition of this poem. It’s not the Dordt University Choir, but nice nonetheless.

When We Love

Today’s Gift.

So, no doubt you are wondering how it went today. I know you’ve been waiting all day for some kind of report, some word on how the project went, was going or wasn’t going. You’ve been patient while I’ve been working on this. I appreciate that. I knew you wanted to know, needed to know. I thought about sending this out while I was mid-project when I was up to my graying hair in dust and ceiling debris.  But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself.

It all started years ago when it was decided that the fan/light combo in the bathroom needed replacing. This week, at last, I had the inspiration to do it! I shopped. I bought. I read the instructions. I watched the helpful video. I went to work.

I went to work on it after doing useful and important other-things today. This meant that by the time I started it was about three in the afternoon. I’ve done enough of these home projects to know that an early start is better than three in the afternoon, just in case… one needs another part, one needs to make a couple of runs to Lowe’s, something unexpected goes wrong, the lights go out (more on that later). However, some of the reviews said, “Installed it in an hour.” Great! I’ll have it done by dinner time. Nope!

The fan I bought touted other qualities that are needed for an old house like mine, like the claim that it would be an easy installation. Nope. And, there would be no need to go in the attic. Nope. 

In the video it took about a minute and a half to slap that sucker in and start pulling 110 CFM of air out of the house. Not so in the real world! Four+ hours! As for the no attic work … please, please, PLEASE, don’t make me go into the attic again!! Sorry…

Back to the story…. When installing electrical things like fans and lights it’s a good idea to turn off the electricity to the circuit that’s being worked on. No need to turn off the whole house. I found the circuit breaker I needed. Flipped the switch and poof, only three-fourths of the house went dark, including the other lights in the bathroom in which I was working. Did I mention, it’s an old house? Sheesh!

No lights means no work getting done. Plus, the winter sunlight was making its usual early exit as well. What to do? Ahhhh… then I remembered I borrowed a work light from a friend a while ago… heh, heh… hadn’t returned it yet … heh, heh… saved by my own irresponsibility, to be able to complete the project.

And complete the project, I did. I ripped out the old fan, enlarged the hole in the ceiling, put in the new fan, reconnected the fan to the duct work, hooked up the wiring, correctly I might add, all while making eight trips up into the attic… please, never again!

And there you have it.  Everything you wanted to know about my Fan – tastic adventure today.  

And today’s gift?  Only one scraped knuckle and minor stiffness, so far… tonight anyway, and, of course, a correctly installed fan and light!