LEAVING APRIL BEHIND
April has drifted away. It will be an April that is never forgotten. Mostly, we will remember it for its insignificance as far as daily life is concerned. We were all quarantined; therefore life was nothing but sleeping, eating and (for those of us who were well, able, and essential) going to work.
Everything that we all usually do for fun and leisure was closed; if it was something public. No restaurants were open. All beauty shops and hair salons were closed. Malls and local boutiques were all closed. Schools were closed and many companies were not open for business.
It was a great time for reading, writing, studying and surfing the web.
You could go to the grocery store if you needed too, but you had to wear a mask. I actually wore plastic bag gloves to keep from touching anything with my hands, especially grocery buggies and gas pumps. For awhile even the gas stations kept lower hours. If you didn’t fill up before five you had to wait until the next morning after nine. Not a good schedule for those who really need gas to get to work. The good side was that gas prices went way down.
Churches had to worship virtually and on-line or in drive-through fashion. The only good thing about that was the fact that you could mingle on-line with many different styles of worship and enjoy each and every one.
Every day was filled with prophecies of gloom and doom and conspiracy theories. Facebook was miserable and Pinterest was hopeless as far a planning for the things you pinned about. I has scheduled three camp-type gatherings for my grandchildren to enjoy; and they all were cancelled. We missed being with the grands most of all.
People wondered how much of the news reports; if any, were true. What were the true figures of this disease, and how did it REALLY come into the world and why? Many of the people working in the Emergency Rooms had different tales than the newscast we were getting.
The blame game went on as usual within the ever-increasing evil world of politics. I truly felt sorry for our President and prayed for him often every day. Can you imagine the pressure of being in charge of this impossible situation?
Some wondered how we would be able to vote in an election this fall. No one I know wants mail in ballots. Others showed exuberant joy at the fact that things were so chaotic thinking it would help their choices of running candidates. One brave state opened up for voting despite the threats. The sadness and sicker side of humanity really began to show in all of this.
Many quit paying attention to their state’s mandates and opened their business back up in order to keep from going bankrupt. Three of my favorite restaurants went out of business.
A huge government bail-out was proclaimed; but many did not see their money come into their accounts. Much of the hardest working people in society were denied benefits. Hairdressers, tow-truck drivers and waitresses suffered and anyone who did work on a contractual basis.
Illegal citizens and those already on unemployment benefits were able to collect high unemployment; enough that they didn’t want to work anymore (because they would begin making LESS money by working.) Many realized their pay would be better if they were laid off and requested the change. Some walked off their jobs in the meat industry and as farm laborers. Staying at home was more profitable. The food chain got skewed and stores could not stock; or would not stock certain items because of new governmental standards.
It still seemed impossible that hoarders could have caused the paper manufacturer’s inventories to be so low on toilet paper and paper towels for such a long period of time. Shelves remained empty for months, but other items were fully stocked. Truth be known, we suspect much of these items came from China, who seems very likely to be the main culprit of this disease’s spread. The truth is still out there along with other mysterious questions.
Dairy’s dumped milk and potato farmers trashed potatoes.
People were jailed and fined for not wearing masks in public (most fines were $500).
Pastors were arrested and jailed and other people were jailed for deciding to attend public worship services. Churches who followed the rules were told to shut down while grocery stores, liquor stores and abortion clinics were allowed to stay open for business.
Many felt like things were not going in the right direction and people began to question everything.
As I write a few restrictions are easing in some places; but the whole world is one big mess.
Yep; that was one side of April 2020.
There was also another side.
A national day of prayer was held in spite of the conditions of the world and especially FOR the conditions of the world.
A call to seek God’s face with repentance and requests for healing rang out from every area of the nation. That could NEVER be a bad thing for anyone. Michael Card even recorded a song called Heal Our Land about returning to God; quoting the passage from 2 Chronicles 7:14 that has become the prayer for our nation during this time.
God’s true servants are still on the move. They have been out there doing whatever they could to help. Food banks have been formed, virtual churches have been organized, money has been set aside by those who care about those who have been truly suffering yet have somehow been ignored by the government. Other people have provided funds.
Mother’s taught their children so that they would not lag behind when school started back up. Teachers quickly formed virtual helps. Father’s helped out at home more as Mother’s struggled to maintain their balance of added responsibilities.
Companies sought all the relief they could find for their suffering employees.
Fireman played the national anthem and saluted healthcare workers as they went in day-after-day risking their lives and trying to keep us all well.
People encouraged each other with face-time and e-mails and social media and sweet cards sent in the regular mail.
Some neighbors found care packages on their doorsteps and older people found homemade masks that were made by volunteers in their mailboxes. We found fresh fruit delivered to our door step with a Polaroid snapshot saying “We love you!” from our kids. There were sweet crayola scribbles in the mail from out grands and photos of them going about their home school days.
People began to make a point of smiling and staying positive for each other. More kindness prevailed in the ordinary situations of life. No one seemed to be impatient or hurried anymore. Families sat down for dinner together for the first time in years. The meals were all made from scratch!
All of the yards in the neighborhood got extra tender care; our neighbor even spent a week painting the whole outside of his house. Most people who could spent their stimulus checks on home improvements.
As for those who had to stay in and not go out; I spent hours on the phone with someone going through a terrible divorce and noted that they were now still hoping and moving on with their life. Nashville suffered from a terrible tornado. How do you stay home when your home is demolished by high winds? My best friend had a tree to fall through her roof; but her neighbors chipped in and she and her family are on the way to a happy recovery. A dear Aunt cancelled her chemo treatments and moved in with a daughter; hoping to avoid any contact with her low-immunity. She has held on and is doing well.
On the flip side of that we had three close friends who died without funerals and our hearts went out to the families. They were made to feel very loved as possible by their friends and neighbors in spite of the unbearable situations as they grieved.
Millions started counting the blessings that they DID have in the midst of all the trouble. Most of us still had each other and we grew closer just in the knowing.
We celebrated the Church’s most joyful day of Resurrection all huddled up inside our homes; but we did celebrate none-the-less. We observed our first virtual on-line Passover. Our eyes were opened to what the original Passover was like; a time of hoping for a miracle of God to make a plague leave the land. God was still in control and we felt the proof of this fact all around us.
Many began to spend some of their new-found time in prayer and bible study. My favorite on-line pass-time was listening to the virtual choirs perform together, yet apart. It was beautiful; to the point that it would bring you to tears.
My favorite Christian radio station (WAY FM) decided to quit talking about the pandemic and raise money for children in third world countries who needed surgeries to have a normal life. My hat is off to them. Despite the worse unemployment rates since the great depression; they were able to raise enough money for surgeons of CURE to do many life-changing surgeries for children. Hope is such an amazing stimulus to the healing of the world.
By Mother’s Day some of us felt safe enough to invite our Mother’s into our homes and treat them with a special meal at our table; and a few of us begin to share more time with our immediate family members that were not living under our roofs.
Little, ordinary, every-day things suddenly became very special and we cherished all of the moments as we began feeling our way back to our new normal.
In the midst of all of this; The IN SEASON Lifestyle Blog kept churning out articles and going on with life exactly as it was transpiring. For us; writing is the best therapy. It is our hope that the articles were helpful in getting through all of the crazy circumstances.
God has not forgotten us and we are still thriving more than surviving.
THE COME AS A CHILD BIBLE STUDY
In April we have almost approached the end of our study in The Book of Numbers.
The next few weeks will wrap up our Numbers study and we will keep moving on to Deuteronomy.
In the meantime for all of those wishing to go back and review some things: the editing is now done on the summary of all of our Genesis studies. Soon it will be published into the format of two books (Part 1 and Part 2) of How The Gospel Hides in Genesis. We hope to furnish these books for sale for our community members within the next few months.
Then the author of the COME AS A CHILD BIBLE STUDY which we do on-line every Thursday will begin to compile the lessons we shared on Exodus into a summary book.
Of course we will keep on walking through the scriptures page by page with the wide-eyed focus of a child following their adored Father. Get ready for a fresh view of Deuteronomy
Here is a recap of all of the lessons from April: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/zelophedhads-daughters-and-us/, https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/moses-finishes-his-work/, https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/finding-purpose-in-the-holy-day-offerings/, https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/remember-to-keep-your-vows/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/redemption-and-the-first-born/
Please continue to follow our every Thursday Bible Study – we miss you if you don’t join in!
THE HOUSE DOCTOR
During Covid-19 we have all been confined at home. There were no new articles about the making of a house into a home, except for the facts from our other subjects where we emphasized how important our homes have been to us during this time of isolation.
I’m so glad we did the Robin’s Egg Blue articles in March, because I left everything in that same cheerful state through April; loving the cheerful color scheme and pondering how to bring Mother’s Day celebrations into this same decorating idea. https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/spring-brings-robins-egg-blue-to-the-castle/
The month of April was a month of pondering what would happen in May. No new articles were produced; but many are stewing in the hopper now.
If you love reading about how to use home decor to turn your house into a home; just click the menu bar of the blog and search for THE HOUSE DOCTOR under topics. We have years of seasonal decor hiding behind that tab just waiting on you to join in with their fun.
PEN ART
The topic of PEN ART (as far as blog articles for April) also remained untouched this month as the focus was a bit toned-down for the space of time we were living through.
However; if you read all of the social justice articles in PIECES OF THE PUZZLE you will hear many interesting facts concerning writers, artists, sculptures and musicians as they went through the times after The Great Depression.
I see a pattern developing today that resembles this period of history. Perhaps we will see a rise in art, literature and music as our economy tries to find its way back into some type of normal way of functioning. Our hearts always get poured out into different forms of literature and artwork and we want to capture that when it happens.
Stay with us for more PEN ART in the months ahead.
PIECES OF THE PUZZLE
We are still trying to answer the questions of whether or not we need social justice in the world; and if so – how is the best way to achieve it.
March caught us defining social justice and beginning a study of all of the social justice issues that have presented themselves since the beginning of mankind.
April has been quite an interesting trek through history. We’ve explored The Great Depression and the beginnings of The Frankfurt School. World War I had its own social justice issues and we are about to note those. I can see another month of amazing history lessons before we move on to some of the issues that we have been confronted with today. There are many and we are not overlooking any of them.
PIECES OF THE PUZZLE is actually our theology section; a place where we look at the hard things concerning worship and religion and the Things of God; but we have found that culture and politics, wanted or not, play a huge role in these areas of life.
We are touching on the subject of social justice and exploring history and theory a bit more in order to better understand God’s perspective on these things and to see where mankind fits into the whole picture.
Keep following us through this walk through history and we will come out on the other side of it and begin to answer more questions concerning whether or not Christians need to participate in movements of social justice.
In the meantime; you might want to review the social justice articles we have offered in this series so far: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/what-is-true-social-justice/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/how-do-we-define-social-justice/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/is-social-justice-useful-or-harmful-to-society/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/the-vast-history-of-social-justice/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/social-justice-and-world-war-one/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/social-justice-history-and-the-frankfurt-school/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/social-justice-history-the-great-depression/
Now that is a lot of articles already but we plan to continue offering a few articles each month on this topic until we have covered all of the history and answered all of our ten original questions.
Stay with us – the history alone is fascinating!
AN APPLE A DAY
Well – when I think of the fact that we usually write about health and staying healthy in AN APPLE A DAY topics, I have to say that almost every article for the last two months has given some facts on how to thrive and survive COVID-19. Yet; we did not have any SPECIFIC articles on this topic of health and well being.
For the next few months we will be giving you tips and suggestions on how to recover from a time of social stress and anxiety. Leaving COVID-19 behind is on my to-do list for May. Stay tuned for more articles on how we can do this together as a community.
OH THE PLACES WE SHOULD GO
We couldn’t write about going places this month; as we were commanded to “stay home” during the whole month of April.
Perhaps some of us were dreaming of exotic vacations that we would take when all of this staying home is over; but I did not write about those things yet.
This column will pick back up on its usual topics when life presents ways that we can make it work. Stay with us – those days are coming!
SEASONS
April took us through the holy days of Passover, Unleavened Bread, Early First Fruits and Resurrection Day.
From there we began to count the days after the giving of the omer offering, counting the 50 days until Pentecost. We gave you several articles about each of these holy times.
Also of interest is the fact that this year we are experimenting with a project where we count the days of the calendar just as the ancients did; using the moon as our guide.
We have celebrated the beginning of a new holy year and have come to Passover and then began counting the days till Pentecost using nothing but the clock in the sky and the signs of the harvest in Jerusalem.
So far so good! We seem to be on track with God’s calendar in the sky!
Stay with us as we continue to map out our months during this strange and progressive year. There is so much growing to do and we must keep moving forward toward The Kingdom of God. I’m so happy that we can all enjoy this process together.
Here are some of the seasonal articles we presented to you in April: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/transformation-through-counting-the-omer/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/redemption-and-the-first-born/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/passover-it-can-be-simple/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/passover-week-looking-at-early-first-fruits-and-counting-the-omer/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/preparing-passover-seder-during-covid-19/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/transformation-through-counting-the-omer/
Stay with us as we continue to follow the clock God gave and we can count the days until Pentecost together as a community.
PRODUCTS
Here is a link to our May IN SEASON Community Store where you can shop for things that The IN SEASON Lifestyle recommends for this blog season: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/the-in-season-lifestyle-community-store-for-may-2020/
We also sometimes post product information at the end of some blog articles; but we do not wish to overwhelm the good reading with too many products for you. The ones we recommend are the things we consider pertinent to the season we are blogging through.
STEPPING INTO MAY
SEASONS
May brings us to Mother’s Day. This year will be so different because of the fact that many of us are still under “shelter in place”orders. Some of us are being brave and inviting our Mother’s over for a face-to-face visit on Mother’s Day.
What a joyful time that will be!
Our celebration may be a bit different this time because of the circumstances; but it will be good simply because of the fact that we are breaking out of the mode of being reclusive and visiting with each other again.
Only in small groups and with great caution – but what a joy to be able to look upon your Mother’s face during Mother’s Day.
You may wish to reminisce by browsing through these old Mother’s Day articles from the past: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/getting-ready-for-mothers-day-2018/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/mothers-day/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/mothers-day-gifts/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/seasons-menu-mothers-day-luncheon/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/purple-and-yellow-mothers-day/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/young-motherhood/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/cake-tree/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/miracles-and-metamorphasis/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/store-products/
We don’t always list the old articles; but hey; you might have a few extra reading hours this month; you never know!
Be looking for new articles on this subject in May as well as some new Memorial Day and Pentecost articles (which happen to collide this year!)
The old articles for Memorial Day and Pentecost might be worth looking into while you are waiting: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/memorial-day-stories/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/fig-cake-with-buttermilk/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/soldiers/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/pentecost-in-a-vineyard/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/pentecost-in-the-park/
We will wrap up counting the omer for May and we will discuss how to continue to stay on track with God’s lunar calendar until June.
COME AS A CHILD BIBLE STUDY
In May we will continue and finish a long and amazing study of The Book of Numbers and then go bravely on into a new study on Deuteronomy.
Stay with us; there is never a dull moment. The COME AS A CHILD BIBLE STUDY is held on-line in the blog every Thursday.
PEN ART
We expect the art world, including literature to open it’s doors wider in May. Look for some new book reviews among the current happenings we will bring up.
PIECES OF THE PUZZLE
There is so much clarification going on in the world. What are the best ways for a Christian to look at these things? PIECES OF THE PUZZLE will continue with brave new answers to your theological and world-view questions.
OH THE PLACES WE SHOULD GO
After so long of being couped up inside our homes; who is ready for a good road trip? We have a few ideas for May – so keep reading this section.
MONDAY NIGHT MENUS
We haven’t forgotten to keep you posted about our favorite recipe finds. All of the time at home last month gave us time to brush up on the preparation of a few old recipes we love. Hopefully; these will fit into our May issues; so be watching.
To all of our faithful readers; we love you! Keep living life inside out and upside down like Jesus did and we will be able to move forward through May and into the future together.
The IN SEASON Lifestyle