Musings: Reflections on Pain and Purpose During the Pandemic of 2020

By Sylvia D. Sargent

Musings is an offering designed to encourage, edify and challenge all who read it to view the events of the day from a spiritual as well as practical perspective.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Sep 3, 2020
• ISBN: 9781982253721

Sylvia D. Sargent

During the Covid-19 Pandemic, reflection and introspection have inspired this author to share the leanings of her heart with those who may desire clarity in these uncertain times.

Book preview

Musings

REFLECTIONS ON

PAIN AND PURPOSE

DURING THE

PANDEMIC OF 2020

SYLVIA D. SARGENT

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Copyright © 2020 Sylvia D. Sargent.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

All Scripture quotations in this publication are from The Message. Copyright © by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

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The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

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ISBN: 978-1-9822-5371-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9822-5372-1 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date: 09/03/2020

Contents

Preface

For Granted…

Flip the Script!

Know

Fear Not

Have Your Way

Spiritual Wickedness

Heaven

Just Let Your Heart Break

Heartbroken

Be Healed!

Restoration

The Tortoise and the Hare

Repentance

Responsibility

Just Breathe…

The Least of These

I Wonder…

Cotton…

White Privilege

Black Manhood

Elijah

Rage

Blind

Truth

Grandmomma

The Brutal Truth

Black Lives Matter

Enough

Hypocrisy

Liberation Theology

Innocent Blood

Wake up, Everybody!!

The Beloved Community

Free Indeed!

The Immigrant

I’m Not Throwing Away My Shot!

About Forgiveness

What the World Needs Now

Keep Hope Alive!

My Prayer

Preface

.Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, much of what is occurring has pushed me to speak out through the only medium I have at my disposal—writing. The urgent need for expression has driven me to speak from my heart and my spirit about my experience and the collective experience of humanity at this juncture. Musings is an attempt to speak my truth, hoping that it may offer comfort and clarity to the reader during this time of stress and uncertainty.

For Granted…

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I have taken so much for granted. Toilet Tissue—LOL! Dining out with friends at my favorite restaurants holding deep conversations to solve the world’s problems. Spending time shopping for things I neither want nor need. The hugs I exchange with my sisters whenever we part company. The smiles on the faces of those I greet that are hidden now behind masks. That old saying ‘tomorrow is not promised’ takes on a whole new dimension when you are still alive to witness it in real time.

Indeed, it is now apparent that tomorrow is not promised even when you are still around. What an epiphany! Guess I’ll take a little more time to appreciate the fellowship of friends and the embrace of loved ones if and when the opportunities resurface—but it’s not promised that they will. And if, God willing, the masks can ever come off, I pray we all can lay down the masks we have been wearing all along and be our authentic selves, ready to love and to be loved.

Flip the Script!

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So here is a gut-wrenching, puke-inducing, blood pressure-raising rhetorical question to which the answer is already known. Do we ignore the devastation occurring in our nursing homes, prisons, Indian reservations, meat-packing plants and minority communities while listening to the Orange one spew lies, venom, and promote his cynical agendas because we consider these people of little value? The answer is obvious. Somebody (and we know Who) said that in His order the first would be last and the last would be first! Even now some of the front line workers and first responders whose job classifications are low on the totem pole are literally saving our lives as we speak. They are feeding us, nursing us and protecting us and NOW we honor them for what they have always done because we see that without them we will surely perish! Keep flipping the script, Lord! Bring it on, God! Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven!

Know

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As I browse Facebook this morning I am seeing multiple postings of Psalm 46:10: Be still and know that I am God(KJV). This Scripture is so relevant for such a time as this. Collectively we are challenged at being still; but now we have no recourse. We are forced to do just that. Just as important as the admonition to ‘be still’ is the command to KNOW. My prayer then is that as we are still we resist the urge to be consumed by fear but rather take this time to reflect and KNOW that our all-knowing, all-powerful, and everywhere present God is yet accomplishing His divine purpose in the earth. As we reflect, may we see (KNOW) that He sits high, looks low, and neither slumbers nor sleeps.

I awoke the other day singing out loud a song that I had not sung in ages. It was Andre Crouch’s Bringing Back the Sunshine. I found myself singing: God is bringing back the Sunshine, Bringing back blue skies, I hear Him whispering in my ear, Telling me there’s no need to cry. It’s alright, alright tonight. It was Earth day and I was blessed to be able to reflect on how the dolphins are returning to the canals in Italy, how