The 1.5 meter Community

We've been living 1.5 meters apart from everyone since mid-March.
There are lines taped on the floor of stores to remind you to stay 1.5 meters away from other shoppers. You are not allowed into a grocery store without a cart (makes you keep your distance). And only one person per family may go into a grocery store at a time. Or each person must have a cart. Grocery stores only put out a limited number of carts. If the store has too many people in it, you wait outside until a cart becomes available.

We started to have coffee with a couple of ladies from church every other month or so. They hated to miss it, so we arranged to meet in the open air (cafe closed, anyway) where we could keep 1.5 meters apart. There were signs posted in the park, just in case we forgot. We didn't drink any coffee, but we enjoyed our time together.

Oddly enough, staying apart has been bringing people together. We help each other, and not just by social distancing to limit the spread of the virus. One woman in our community sewed over 100 face masks for health-care workers. Another has no-questions-asked food bank in her little paved front yard. People bring food. People take food. People trade food they got from the official food bank (often exotic items the grocery store couldn't sell) for food from this neighborhood food bank.
How have you been living together . . . while safely staying apart?

(Teddy) Bear Hunt--Only Together

AllenSamen, ONLY TOGETHER or  solely by working together is a rough translation of the campaign to combat the corona virus. 
For example, shortly after Dutch schools closed, people started putting teddy bears in their windows. Children could still go outside, alone with family members. The whole country, though, worked together to lighten the mood for the children. While they are walking or biking from here to there, they can go on a bear hunt.
How many teddy bears in this block? Any new ones today?
It's fun to look for bears, no matter how old/young you are.
And it's encouraging to see how many households participate, no matter how young/old they are. Some houses have at least 3 bears in as many different windows! It's a small but significant way to be together, even when we need to stay apart.

Is anything blooming around you right now? And do those blooms have any special meaning for you? We have lilies-of-the-valley in our yard. I love them, not only because they look and smell so sweet. They evoke memories.

Memory #1: the friend who gave me these plants. She has a beautiful garden and a beautiful mind.
Memory #2: comes first chronologically, since it dates back to childhood. My sisters and I used to sing this round, probably most often when we couldn't fall asleep at night: 

White coral bells, upon a slender stalk, 

lilies of the valley line my garden walk. 

Oh, don't you wish that you could hear them ring? 

That will happen only when the fairies sing.   

Memory #3: in the Republic of Moldova I bought a bunch of these flowers from a little old grandmother selling them on the street. The bunch was tied together with a string. I put them in the room where I was staying. And then I noticed for the first time that I had developed a sensitivity to some floral scents. I had to move that little bunch of flowers a good six feet away from me.  

Now I ask you, why do lilies of the valley even have a scent? The friend who gave me my first few plants warned me that they spread. And they do--they propagate mainly from rhizomes (a fancy way of saying they sending out roots as runners). They do bear seeds, but the rhizomes are a lot more productive. So, in a way, the whole flower-and-scent business is unnecessary. 

When it comes to that, why do flowers come in so many different shapes and sizes, colors and scents? I happen to believe that the Creator scatters delight throughout creation on an even grander scale than my friend scatters delight throughout her own garden (which is far more enchanting than mine). What do you believe?

LIBERATION

Photo taken from Facebook Page "De Leimers Herdenkt"

This past Easter weekend we were liberated. Seventy-five years ago the Allies came through this region of the Netherlands and freed the people from Nazi rule. I don’t know about you, but I could use another liberation. We’ve been sheltering at home since returning to our Dutch home on March 24, and we are getting weary. My annual bout of hay-fever nearly brought on a panic attack. I had to keep reminding myself, sometimes rather sternly, that these particular symptoms were the result of pollen and that they happen every year.

Celebration . . . happens every year . . . liberation . . . Oh, yes, Easter!
I have been liberated. From death to life.
Let us keep reminding ourselves that Christ has risen. 

He has risen indeed!

Making Masks . . . Also in Moldova

Our partners in Moldova

are making masks:

Our teammates in Slovakia 

are making masks:

Are you wearing masks?

Wherever you are?

Here's someone who has actually promised not to: 

"I will not hide My face from them any longer, for I will have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel," declares the Lord GOD. Ezekiel 39:29

Flour and Flowers

Keith and I are back in the Netherlands, where the tulips are blooming.

We thought we'd miss them. We were planning to be in America from mid-March through the end of June.

People here are also staying home. There are public service announcements about keeping the appropriate social distance. 
There are even drones flying over the beaches, reminding people to stay far enough away from each other.

People here are also stocking up on supplies. We have enough toilet paper, but flour has been hard to find. 

Flour usually comes in 1 kg bags.  All we found on the shelves last week was volkoren (whole wheat). All we found today was 100 gram bags. So we bought zelf rijzend  (self rising) as well as plain flour. Don't know whether it was the store's idea to only put out 100 gram bags or whether that was all that was left in the warehouse right now. Either way, it does cut down on hording!

Jesus' advice on storing up food:  Life is more important than food, and the body is more important than what you put on it. 26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant, harvest, or save food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. Don’t you know you are worth much more than they are? (Matthew 6:25b-26)

ADVICE SEEN IN KIROLI PARK, MONROE, LOUISIANA