I drove home from the Shire today, which was fine - quite straight forward really - until the end when I was driving down the Lanes (the sign that home is just a few bends away) and there we stopped as two cars (or maybe three) emptied their occupants to discuss the little bang that had happened. They were OK, I'm sure.
Next to me was the entrance to a farm, which made turning around easier and so I started off on another way. Thankfully I had google maps on (just in case another way is better than the way I know) which, when it had pulled itself together (which took a little while) could find me an alternative way home. It sent me down an unsuitable for HGVs lane, which was OK because there was no one coming the other direction, and I popped out of the top onto a familiar road just past the accident which could take me home.
It was once I got on the familiar road that I realised my eyes were sore. I had been concentrating so hard on driving through the unknown that I forgot the thing I needed to do to help me see the way ahead. I was ready for what was right in front of me, but wasn't ready for the longer journey through all the bends ahead. I'd forgotten to blink. Driving in London is often a bit like that. It's like one of those hazard perception tests where concentration is key and any moment of missing the hazard may involve heavy braking or a loud beep from outside. Blinking is a distraction in that moment.
However, blinking is necessary. It's normally an automatic response to dry eyes or dirt or to some sort of external stimulus. It gets your eyelashes to work, batting away the irritants before they get stuck in the eye. When you are focussed on one thing (like the road ahead), your blink rate decreases, which is why your eyes get dry.
As we come to the end of a full year of pandemic, the road continues to feel unfamiliar. When we thought we had got back on the right road, another variant, another set of rapidly rising cases, another load of covid stuff has been dumped on the tarmac before us. Finding our way takes concentration, more decision making, and a need to embrace the unfamiliar route ahead without the google maps that we hope to rely on. No decision feels like the right decision, uncertainty is rife and things feel quite a lot on edge.
It's at times like these we need to not forget to blink. We cannot continue down an unfamiliar road without blinking, because the dryness of our eyes will get too much and we won't be able to see anything beyond the right now anymore. It is in seeing beyond the right now that we are able to keep going. If we cannot see, we are in danger of just stopping. Blinking is self care. Blinking is nourishing. Blinking is life giving. Blinking brings hope.
As we enter another year down this uncertain road, we hope for better. We hope that next year will end better than the last. And..... as we continue to drive down an unfamiliar route, don't forget to blink. The phrase 'blink and you'll miss it' is not the one for this year - sometimes we might want to blink so we do miss it, because we don't need all the information being thrown in our faces anymore. We need to blink for nourishment, blink for hydration, blink so our eyes continue to work to see where we are going.
Our blinks are necessary pauses, they are counts to 10 before we react, and they are the moments of joy we seek out in the mess. Our blinks are the times we set aside to stop and look either side of the hazard to the beauty beyond, the times we set aside to read and pray and the moments with wise ones who point out the signpost we didn't see ahead.
Those blinks will help us see the way to an easier road ahead.
"You Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light. With your help I can advance against a troop, with my God I can scale a wall" Psalm 18:28-29
You Lord, keep my vision clear; my God helps me to see by bringing light. With your help I can navigate the unfamiliar road, with my God I can continue to walk on.
Don't forget to blink
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