A Prayer For A Lovely Holiday Saturday Even Though We're In Lockdown

 It’s Saturday and for most people a day off in a 2 day weekend.  Here in Canada it’s actually a holiday weekend.  When I was growing up this was the first long weekend when streams of cars came up Hwy 400 from Toronto and headed for cottage country. The traffic has only gotten worse in the ensuing years and the price of “cottages” has skyrocketed.

Here in the Lower Mainland area of Vancouver the same is true going out the various highways that lead to the Okanagan Valley and other spots in the interior.  Warmer sun.  Longer bright evenings in quiet country places.  Sounds lovely doesn’t it?

And then we have this weekend in May 2021 in the middle of the pandemic when most of us are in lockdown.  There are special road checks here to ensure that we all stay local and only travel for essential purposes.  I don’t know what the cottage traffic will be like in Ontario this weekend but hopefully it will be light.  Along with so many others we are hoping that this will be the last time we are doing these vacation weekends at home.  With increasing vaccinations we can only hope that our Covid case numbers will continue to go down and stay down this third wave of the pandemic will be over.

So, on this very different holiday weekend Saturday, may we find rest and recreation wherever we are and peace in our hearts from the God who is with us wherever we can go or can’t go.

May God, the source of hope, fill you with all joy and peace by means of your faith in him, so that your hope will continue to grow by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Romans 15:13

Psalm 1 gives us a restful scene for this holiday weekend when it says:

Happy are those who reject the advice of evil people, who do not follow the example of sinners or join those who have no use for God. Instead, they find joy in obeying the Law of the Lord, and they study it day and night.  They are like trees that grow beside a stream, that bear fruit at the right time, and whose leaves do not dry up. They succeed in everything they do.  Psalm 1:1-3

So Lord, wherever we find ourselves on this Saturday we pray that we will be those who are finding joy in obeying Your Word, filling our minds and hearts with it day and night.  We want to be like the trees mentioned that are by the streams, soaking up all the moisture and food needed from day to day and season to season so at just the right time our lives can produce good fruit. 

And not only that, but be vibrant in the middle of it all.  You don’t want us to be worn out and just getting through, You want us to thrive like the leaves in this picture that do not dry up.  I wonder if the prophet Jeremiah wasn’t thinking about these words too when he prayed:

But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.  Jeremiah 17:7-8

That’s our prayer, God, that we would not just read and mediate on Your word each day but that we would put our trust in You and what You say and have confidence that You are good to Your word.  Troubles will come and go but as we stay rooted in Your refreshing truth we’ll get through the dry times and flourish.

And so on this Saturday we pray once again:

May God, the source of hope, fill you with all joy and peace by means of your faith in him, so that your hope will continue to grow by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Romans 15:13