A Message of Hope from Edward Grinnan: Growing Closer to God

Hey, it’s Edward from Guideposts and from the woods again. I’m out here with Gracie. We’re trying to get a hike in before the big tropical storm hits. You can say hi to Gracie. Gracie, are you ready for the storm? I think she’s all ready for it.

I’ve been thinking about the title of that book, One Hundred Years of Solitude, the great book by Marquez. And sometimes it feels, the shutdown feels a little bit like 100 years of solitude. It’s really only been about 100 days, give or take.

But I’m thinking of the things that I’m actually getting used to–for instance, I’m getting used to eating all of my meals at home, no going out and not even any pickup. But that’s nice, because we sit down as a little family, Julee, Gracie and I and we have our meals and that’s terrific.

I’m getting used to sleeping in a little bit in the morning. Since I’m not commuting, so I don’t have to put that into my schedule.

I’m not getting used to Gracie jumping up on the bed and then sitting on my head in the morning until I get up and cook breakfast. So we’re going to have to work with her on that.

I think I’m getting used to substandard toilet paper after all these weeks. I’m not getting used to missing my friends and colleagues, whose appearance in Zoom is still so one-dimensional and really makes me miss them more.

I’m getting used to sitting out late at night on the back porch with Gracie and looking up into the woods under the hillside and trying to figure out what animals we hear moving around and see if we can identify them.

I’m getting used to growing closer to God. In any crisis like this, or any change, it’s always an opportunity to grow closer to my Higher Power. And I find myself more and more now, as we go through this, leaning on God and just feeling God present.

So if there’s one thing I have to look for ahead, and we don’t know the future or how this is all going to turn out, I know who will be there for me. And not on Zoom and not behind the mask. It’ll be my God and my salvation.

So thanks. I hope you have a good weekend for those of you in the northeast, hope you do well in the storm. Thank you from me and Gracie. There she is again. She wants to get moving.