As I write this blog, I’m in the midst of making hot cross buns.  Having an abundance of time seemed to lend itself to a time-consuming baking project with yeast.   Knead that dough until it’s just right.  Then set it aside to rise.  After an hour and a half, when it’s looking just wonderful, I punch it down and ready it for the next step.

I was thinking that my life is sometimes just like that.  I fill it with an abundance of good things, watch them mix together as I interact with others.  And then when I least expect it – pow!  Punched down by a word,  a phone call, unwanted news, illness, a pandemic that stirs fear and anxiety.    You know the feeling, things were going so well, and then . . .

We wonder how we will rise again.  But there’s something inside us, a bit of leavening if you will.  Something that lifts us and helps us back up.   The Holy Spirit is always within us, but in these punched down moments, we feel our need for him more desperately.

The Gospel of John offers these words of encouragement.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”  John 16:33

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever– the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”  John 14:16-17

Yesterday we celebrated with cries of “He is risen!”   Perhaps quietly in our homes, but the celebration was the same.   “He is risen, He is risen indeed!”

Take heart dear friends, we also will rise from the angst of our current situation.  We will get through this and join together again with a new appreciation for what is important to us and what was not so essential  after all.

Until then, peace be with you.   The unconditional love of God has not gone away, it is there within you.  It is visible in every act of kindness that we experience.  We can share it as we reach out in love to help others.

Judy