LANGUISHING

April 22, 2021
Good afternoon,

A few people have forwarded me an article from the New York Times about ” languishing” in the pandemic.


” Languishing is a sense of stagnation and emptiness. It feels as if you’re muddling through your days, looking at your life through a foggy windshield. And it might be the dominant emotion for 2021.”… in NYTby Adam Grant April 19, 2021

It seems to be right on for me. It is the amount of change that we have had to endure. Do I go to the office or stay at home ? Do we tape or livestream ? Do I visit, with a mask ? Then, I just languish. How often do I phone people ? What do I say in my daily blog ? What am I supposed to be doing ? It has not stopped me from being a pastor but it sure has changed what I do, and how I think ? And now I have to self-isolate from my wife ( it is soon over ) ? So, languishing is somewhere between good mental health and depression.


Can you identify with this feeling ?

Jeremiah, the Old Testament prophet, languishes a lot in his life. He is unsure if he wants to accept the call from God. He is told to proclaim to the nation, his people, that they are sinners. Then he has to prophesy against the other nations. He languished in a foreign land near the end of his life. 

I offer to you the words from Jeremiah:
PRAYER

“You, Lord, reign forever;
    your throne endures from generation to generation.
Why do you always forget us?
    Why do you forsake us so long? 

Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return;
    renew our days as of old
unless you have utterly rejected us
    and are angry with us beyond measure.”

        Lamentations 5:19-22 ( words of Jeremiah )

Fred

Soaring like Vultures

lifted up by unseen Hands

Trust, silent enters my fears     Monica Pieper Landoni 2021

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