The Wobble Room
I heard the other day about a hospital that had introduced a “Wobble Room”. A special room set aside where NHS staff could go to find peace and quiet and help when they were having a wobble, when things are just getting too much to cope with. The idea is to look after their mental health. There have always been “Wobble” rooms in hospitals, the Chapel, a quiet place of reflection to draw aside with God and spend time with him, to re-calibrate our lives and focus on our Saviour rather than our world and our problems. Perhaps we all need a “Wobble Room", or at least a “wobble” corner where we sit down and focus on God. Where we have a bible and some bible reading notes and a hymn book and some inspiring bible quotes printed out, and perhaps a journal to record our thoughts, so that when we have a wobble, we go to our Saviour and we find like the Psalmist -
He lifted me out of the ditch,
pulled me from deep mud.
He stood me up on a solid rock
to make sure I wouldn't slip.
Psalms 40:2
Some local examples of the Wobble Room
https://www.derrynow.com/news/coronavirus/531732/coronavirus-latest-wobble-room-launched-in-emergency-department-at-altnagelvin-hospital.html
https://www.granthamjournal.co.uk/news/hospital-creates-wellbeing-room-for-nhs-staff-who-need-to-cry-or-breathe-9105221/
Reading The Psalms
I keep offering ways that we can fill our minds with the things of God for two main reasons.
- Although we need to be informed about how best to react to the Corona Virus, it will do us no good, mentally, to constantly listen to the same message of doom and fear over and over again, all day long.
- We need a positive message to counteract the media, and there is nothing better than looking to God.
On Day 1 read Psalm 1 followed by Psalm 31 (1 + 30) and then Psalm 61 (31 + 30) and then 91 (61 + 30) and so on.
On Day 2 read Psalm 2, 32, 62, 92 etc.
And so on.
This means that you get a selection of Psalms each day rather than just a whole collection of the same type of Psalm. If you don’t have time to read them all, you could just skim read them until you find a verse that the Lord speaks to you through and then meditate on that one verse.
Tides
Yesterday in Tides, Stephen Richmond was writing about how the early church was persecuted in Acts. He says-
The remarkable thing was that the gospel spread and took root in these new communities. Lovers of Christ spoke about their love of Christ. Those who had found new life shared the things they had seen and heard. The Holy Spirit that had filled them in Jerusalem enabled and equipped them to proclaim the Christ. God builds his church in times of hardship.
God brings life from death. In the darkest of situations God moves and works and builds and saves. In our current struggles our church communities have been scattered from our buildings and regular activities, but we have a God who can and will build his church even in these difficult times.
These are dark days for all of us but they are days of the spread of the Gospel. We are no longer confined to a building on a Sunday, we are not ‘Stuck’ at home we are ‘Safe’ at home and able to share the good news of the Gospel of hope in Jesus Christ.
Day 33 - Trypraying 2020
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father
Which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy Kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us,
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil
For Thine is the kingdom
The power and the glory
For ever and ever
AMEN