This afternoon I was helping Reuben start to build a 3D island -he is studying what Hawaiki might be like -so think Moana… As we formed the chicken wire (available now we are in level 3) and then began the papier mache, I was thinking about how beautiful islands are. How beautiful our island is. I can walk to the coastline and look out to sea and it is beautiful. Living on an island with a large moat has its advantages in times like these. In this time of lockdown, we have watched the beauty grow -more dolphins in the bay and today a kereru as well as tui and piwakawaka in the garden. On the world stage we have seen amazing images of an environment that is finding a new and more beautiful normal. It is as if with the huge costs of COVID 19, in lives, in businesses, in economies, there is an underside of beauty. And it is a beauty I am struggling to let go of. I realise I am one of the lucky ones, I still have a job, I can support those in my whanau who have lost work, and I am not sick. So lockdown has offered an increase of connection within my bubble -more meals around the table, more walks, more cuddles. Yes, there has been some crazy juggling of roles, this weird tension and an ongoing weariness that takes its toll, and of course I want our nation and our world to be able to move through this terrible pandemic. But there remains a part of me that is not ready to let go of the beauty that I have found on the underside. I wonder how I might retain at least a portion of it. Seeing the beauty is a good start. Being thankful might be the next step to encourage myself to make some other choices, in order for there to be more beauty in my life. Isaiah 42: 10 says Sing to the Lord a new song, Sing His praise from the end of the earth! You who go down to the sea, and all that is in it. You islands, and those who dwell on them.
In our gratitude for this beauty, may we find fresh ways as we move into the future to make space for beauty. The picture shows a very early stage one of the island… perhaps there will be a later stage photo in the days ahead.
