Today in church someone told the story of Christ’s disciples. Many were fishermen who “straightway” left their nets & followed Him. Christ taught for ~3 yrs during which these men saw miracles, heard & accepted new ideas, & were faced with persecution & trauma. It must have been utterly life-changing.
Then the Lord was crucified. Everything they had come to believe was tested. After 3 days, Christ rose from the dead & they saw the resurrected Lord before He departed from them for a time. And after that—after all those life-changing experiences, well, they didn’t know what to do. So they went back to their boats/nets & became fishermen again.
Christ, both loving & needing His disciples, visited them w/ another miracle. One day a man called to them from shore asking if they had fish (no) & offering advice. They followed his advice & caught a LOT of fish! Then the disciples knew it was Jesus & Peter jumped out of the boat to meet him.
The speaker wanted us to consider all that we had been through w/ Covid & to consider an important question: now what?
Of course I thought of covid & its many challenges. But this time will always be linked for me to the last 3 yrs as a whole: Lydia’s birth & DS diagnosis, her 💛 surgeries, & 32 mo of quarantine.
We have seen trauma & hardship; we have learned & embraced new ideas; we have seen miracles. It has been utterly life-changing. Now what?
Do I go back to who I was, before?
That seems crazy & impossible but leave it to human nature to get comfortable & lazy about life. I don’t want to go back. We’ve learned too much & hard as they were I cherish those lessons.
So, now what. What have I learned/gained that’s good & how do I hold on to that?
Christ asked His disciples repeatedly if they loved Him, then asked them to feed His sheep.
What an overwhelming directive but doesn’t it all just come down to that? Remember the Savior. Do what He wants you to do. Help others.
I have so many questions, so much social awkwardness, so many anxieties about the future. I don’t know that I am personally called to any great world-changing position, but I do think God expects us to keep moving fwd & to not forget. So I’ll try.
