I asked Nancy for a word for you. Instead, she responded to the rest of my email and then said, “We keep plugging away.”

It is a perfect word for you. And for me.

In this time between the celebrations of Easter and Pentecost, the stories from the Gospels are kind of fun. Jesus shows up, people can’t believe it. Jesus explains stuff. Jesus gives people the opportunity to recommit.

But he knows he’s going to disappear. And the Spirit will come. And there will be a long season of waiting.

Each of us will have our big moments of faith, of questions, of re commitment. We may be part of big moments of healing, of protection, of provision. But the truth is that with the death rate at 100%, we will die waiting for everything to make complete sense.

And in the meantime, the invitation for us is to keep plugging away. Doing today’s work. Exchanging a “to do” list for a “done” list. Practicing the scales, filing the folders, doing the physical therapy, waiting for the treatment to work.

There is a little of that sense in Paul’s letter to the Thessalonian church.

He writes: “Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.”

Happy Friday. Keep plugging.