THE SHEPHERD’S CORNER

In his book, On Writing Well, William Zinsser, considered one of the prominent gurus in writing, gives a sound advice to us who wish to write, “Examine every word you put on paper. You’ll find a surprising number that don’t serve any purpose.” He likens those words such as “at this point in time” (instead of “now”) as clutter. The reason is, again I quote him, “Writing improves in direct ratio to the number of things we can keep out.” In other words, the less clutter we put on paper, the better our writing will be.

Thanks to Covid-19, we have had to alter our lives—some drastically and some moderately. But one thing we share in common is that we cannot meet with people as freely and frequently as before. We hunker down in our shelters with a lot less things to do; suddenly life becomes much simpler. We learned that we do not need much, and much that we thought we needed were merely clutter. And, more importantly to our surprise we discovered that we don’t care for much. We realized besides food and water, what we need—and care for—is people. Hard to believe, we miss seeing people.

In her effort to be a good host, Martha became so busy that she neglected the most important part of having Jesus in her home—spending time with Him. Hence, came that gentle rebuke, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41).

Easter is usually one of the busiest times of the year, but not this year. Because of Covid-19, our church service and sweet fellowship have been taken away, but one thing has not been—and cannot be—taken away: Spending time with Jesus, Our Resurrected Lord.

Pastor Paul