We are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives.
Ephesians 2:10
So I had an interesting thought this weekend. It was Saturday evening, after one of the more difficult caregiving 24-hours I have experienced in a while. The day required a lot of me, more even than is typical. Yet I remained positive throughout, very much engaged with my dad; and I felt, in a way, peace and serenity, deeply satisfied despite the challenges.
It’s probably important to note at this point that my reflections on God, and theology, and what it means to live as a follower of Jesus, can be wildly inconsistent! But my views are – if nothing else – authentic, they are not contrived; they come out of an honest journey that is at times crystal clear and at times as foggy as London when a “pea-souper” rolls in off the Thames.
Anyway, as I walked back home late Saturday evening Bill Murray’s 1993 film “Groundhog Day” seeped into the edge of my consciousness. In the movie Murray finds himself repeating the same day, time after time, until he eventually realizes all he needs to do is to simply get it right…
Get it right just the one time… and then, when he wakes up the next morning, maybe it really will be tomorrow.
Rinse, wash, repeat:
For the record, I do not believe in reincarnation, or that God makes us go through difficult situations – and repeat them – to score us like a test. And my salvation (my relationship with God) is not dependent on me doing things correctly like some religious checklist. None of those things represent the God I love and follow.
That said, I still can’t shake this idea that in everything I do there is – always- a better way, a more Christlike response, an ideal version of living that this partnership with God thing makes possible.
Sometimes I wonder, just a little bit, if this seemingly endless repetition of challenging days, where I pour myself out and perform the same tasks time and again, an investment of self so diametrically opposed to where I believe my gifts, my calling, and my hopes and dreams want me to be, may just be waiting for me to do it right this one time.
- To serve with enough humility.
- To lift up all those around me.
- To bring peace.
- To love with the selfless focus of Jesus.
- To bring joy where it is needed.
- To stop thinking of myself.
That maybe, having truly been the presence of Jesus in the way the world needs, I would – like Bill Murray – go to bed, fall asleep, wake up in the morning and – this time – it really would be tomorrow.
We are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives.
Peace, in every way – DEREK
Dear Derek, this is certainly one of the challenges of caregiving – you do the same things over and over, but the situation never gets better. In fact, it often simply becomes more challenging – and the grief is very real.God bless you as you care for your parents, especially your father. I can tell you from the experience of caring for my father-in-law in his last months and for my husband over a period of many years, with full care only in the last weeks, that as hard as these times were, I wouldn’t “take a farm in Georgia” for the time with these two godly men – 2 of the 3 most important men in my life. My father-in-law died in July 2007, my father in November 2007 (after almost a year in a care facility), and my husband in April 2018. I have never regretted anything I did for any of them. These experiences were part of what made me a better pastor, especially when I visited with those who were in the later days of their lives, like your stepmother-in-law, Myrt, and her brother Les, as Velva’s pastor. You are in the great school of life – and death – and God will use this time in ways you cannot imagine yet. Bless you and Rebekah as you support one another in these hard days. Margaret Marquis
—————————————–From: “Derek Maul: Words and Photographs for the Journey” To: mmarquis1@cfl.rr.com Cc: Sent: Sunday March 6 2022 9:11:05AM Subject: [New post] Getting it right…
derekmaul posted: ” We are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives.Ephesians 2:10 So I had an interesting thought this weekend. It was Saturday evening, after one of the more “
That’s a great word, Margaret. Thanks. I appreciate your thoughtfulness your compassion and your prayers.
Peace – D