We’ve asked a mum of one of our families at Dundonald Church to write a blog about what life is like for her and her family in lockdown
#3 – 27/04/2020 – The battle for time and community
Using my time well…
I was actually looking forward to starting school at home again after the Easter break! I find lack of structure difficult, even in normal life, and so in spite of the expected tensions as we all adjusted, it was nice to have some more clarity over how to fill our days. But I’m so aware though that for those who are juggling work as well as helping kids with school at home, life at the moment feels very much harder than I’m finding it.
‘I had high hopes of getting more reading done during lockdown,
but so far that hasn’t really been happening.
I’ve been finding that I’m struggling to focus and am easily distracted’
I had high hopes of getting more reading done during lockdown, but so far that hasn’t really been happening. I’ve been finding that I’m struggling to focus and am easily distracted. Partly I think that’s because I get little bits of time rather than longer chunks, in between someone needing help with something or a cry of “x is being mean to me”, but I’m very capable of distracting myself as well, with checking WhatsApp too frequently (which was an issue before lockdown too) or the news or thinking about what I might need to order online.
A spiritual battle…
I’ve been praying for help to develop more healthy habits of picking up the Bible or a book if I have a spare moment, even if I anticipate that I might only have 5 mins. It feels a bit like the season of having toddlers and babies, when you only get little snatches of time to yourself.
I think there’s also a spiritual battle I need to be more aware of – how it’s so much easier to pick up my phone than my bible.
There have been times in my life where I’ve got better at talking to the Lord regularly through the day, just being more aware that he is always near and loves us to talk to him and ask for his help, and I would love to get back to that. So that might look like crying to Him for wisdom to know how to help my kids and praying for Him to be at work in their hearts, instead of wallowing in the self-pity of dented pride that I can’t seem to help them.
Missing people…
I’m really missing seeing people now. It is such a joy to unexpectedly bump into friends (obviously from 2 metres!) while out for our daily exercise! I’ve realised that I am out of the habit of having long phone calls, as until lock down I was arranging to see friends face to face. And you don’t get so many non-verbal cues on the phone. My children are doing 1:1 video calls with friends, I’m not sure why I’m not doing the same!
‘One of the things that I think I miss is the encouragement of lots of people praising God together – our attempts at singing from the sofa are not quite the same!’
And I miss our church gatherings so much. The online “services” are really great but church is a gathering, and we are not able to actually gather. One of the things that I think I miss is the encouragement of lots of people praising God together – our attempts at singing from the sofa are not quite the same! It was super encouraging to meet with my prayer group on zoom this week though – I felt very recharged by that.
I guess for many Christians in countries where they are persecuted for their faith, meeting in homes in small groups is normal, and what we were used to would be a huge luxury. Maybe we’ll appreciate our freedoms more after this.
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For more family-related media please head to dundonald.org/family- devotionals, or please email us any feedback or encouragements!
natasha.small@dundonald.org
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