By Phil Baisley
A dear friend recently posed a question on Facebook: “Last day of summer; did you do what you wanted to do?”
I responded with one of those laughing emojis. I barely noticed we had a summer and did almost nothing I wanted to do. Jen and I couldn’t even get contractors to call us back to schedule an estimate for gutters. My garbage disposal and garage door opener broke the same day.
The electric fence that keeps the horses safely corralled shorted out, and Sage decided she’d like to be free ranging. Air travel to visit the grandkids was impossible due to COVID-19.
I was one of the fortunate ones. Too many of my friends contracted COVID. A colleague almost died. Quite a few relatives of friends did die. Unemployment in my home county reached 14%. A favorite Cajun restaurant had to close its doors for good.
Let’s face it, 2020 has been a crappy year, and we’ve still got nearly three months to go.
I suppose we could blame someone. That’s what we do, right? Blame someone. The Democrats. The Republicans. The president. The media. The culture. God.
How dare a disease mess up our plans so much! It’s easy to have a very negative attitude after seven months of apocalyptic plague.
Personally, I prefer the prophet Habakkuk’s take on crappy years. In Habakkuk 3:17-18 we read:
“Though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the vines; though the produce of the olive fails, and the fields yield no food; though the flock is cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the God of my salvation.”
I love that. Even in the crappiest of years — say, 2020 — God is still our salvation. God remains with us in and through the worst of times.
I can complain and be bitter, or I can rejoice. God will still be there for me. So I might as well rejoice.
Phil Baisley is pastor of Greenfield Friends Meeting. This weekly column is written by local clergy members.
