While in conversation yesterday with Gayle we were trying to make sense of the battle we had to get a foot in the door of Madrid and then effectively being shut out because of the pandemic. With things as they are it will probably be around a year before we can return. We came up with a conviction that I thought might just resonate beyond ourselves and could be a help to others.
I saw a hook thrown into the city, like a grappling hook or even an anchor, a hook that went into the land and caught (for us in Madrid). A stake in the land but something more than that, a hook into the land and our future. We talk of Madrid as a 10 year push, and the next phase being a ten year focus. Now we are in Oliva, practically better and always has been the ”in-between place’, but not what is pulling us forward. Our experience is that this hiatus has been very formative indeed. As well as writing, many video calls, new connections (most of which we would not have had time nor space for had we not been here); we have also ‘seen’ who we are to become over this next season. It has been huge for us…
Not close to the hope of the Gospel but the same principle:
We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain (Heb. 6:19).
So putting this all together. A hook is established into the future to secure it ahead of time. This then is combined with an intense season of preparation for what is to come, not simply preparation as in material etc, but preparation with connections and also internal preparation. The pause button is to enable preparation.
Hope that makes sense, and maybe for some it will resonate and clarify what had been happening in your situation over the past months.
Makes total sense Martin. I’ve been struck again by the kairos and the chronos and living in the “now” and the “not yet“. While this is a season of limitation, it’s also an amazing opportunity to be grasped as you’ve described. Let’s not miss it!
Thank you for that perspective. When I moved to France I bought a building plot, then the 2008 economic crisis meant I couldn’t put a house on it for another 6 years, and didn’t move in until a year after it was finished. In my brighter moments I thought of it as being perhaps like Jeremiah’s field. The last week of Feb this year my brothers and I completed on the purchase of an old stone house in the mountains that they are planning on renovating. Needless to say they’ve not seen it since they’ve owned it. Whilst I did get to go up there for a few days from time to time in the hottest part of the summer to cool off a bit, it’s out of bounds in lockdown, which has been just the times of year I need to get on with the garden. I’d been asking all sorts of questions about how daft an idea it’s seemed to be. No answers yet, never mind great revelations for the future, but I’ll hang on and see.
Absolutely agree Martin. Was chatting to a mutual friend about how that works only yesterday. I feel myself as putting a stake (anchor) ahead of me and then another, and another, and another…
Why I place them in a certain position I don’t exactly know but I feel my hand guided, as if throwing them ahead… That’s the future I want to shape up – it’s like walking through mist (had a dream about that years ago)…
So I keep on. Not sure where I’m going but sense His presence.
So timely Martin, having gained a foothold in Llanelli town centre with the art gallery/creative hub in 2019 to early 2020 we’ve been “locked out” since Covid hit and the renovation of the new arts hub premises won’t be ready until around June 2021. Flat is up for sale, learning Welsh and positioning for the next phase …it was such a lift to read this, resonates and frames it for me. Thank you!