As I write we are 9 weeks into the US chapter of the COVID 19 Pandemic and we have seen many changes.

In the beginning, our neighborhood seemed chaotic. Initially, kids were on spring break and that was extended. Finally, the remainder of the semester was suspended. The youngsters continued to run in the streets as if nothing were happening and we wondered what, if anything, their parents were doing to comply with our “stay at home order”. Then we began to notice that when older folks walked down the street, kids scattered, except for the tiny chatterboxes who can’t understand what’s going on and just want to say hi to every passerby. Obviously, the older kids were being told not to expose older adults to the possibility of the virus. It also became apparent that certain families had created extended families with whom to interact and they limited close contact to only those people. One neighbor is on Middle East deployment and his family has had to endure “lockdown” alone here at home while he deals with similar problems in his assignment. One Sunday afternoon we heard sirens coming down the street and went out to find first responders and firetrucks dropping by to wish our nine-year-old neighbor a happy birthday.

 

And lest we forget, parents have become teachers in a world where kids know more about technology than most of us can begin to comprehend. They may adjust well to online learning, but many parents can feel very ill-prepared and many of them have also been trying to wrap their minds around working from a new home office environment. The days of multiple generations sharing a home, work, and playtime has been absent from our lifestyle for decades, but no more. This is our new normal but hope remains high that very soon all the fuss will become just a memory.

 

A chief cause of worry & unhappiness in life is trading what we want most for what we want at the moment. M McKee, author

 

One thing, however, has certainly not changed and it adds an element of caution to our everyday movement. Spring allergies are in full swing…pollen is flying everywhere and most of us will be susceptible to at least one of those nasty little villains. And, of course, when you reach the checkout at the grocery store, the clerk will either sneeze or cough and the first thing to enter your mind is that he or she has the virus. No sympathy for their discomfort, no thought about your own sneezing and coughing, just fear that you’ll be next to contract the unseen menace.

Add to that the fact that every other commercial on TV tells us to wash our hands often for at least 20 seconds and never, ever touch any part of our faces. I don’t know about you, but my eyes itch so badly that I want to pluck them out of my head and rub them soundly with coarse sandpaper…but I’m not supposed to touch them!

 

It seems that every day the list of possible symptoms grows longer and if we let our imaginations run wild we can turn anything into COVID 19. I don’t believe that God wants us to do that. I believe He wants us to place our full trust in Him. He is in control. He has our backs. And He will tame this monster in His good time.

But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. Romans 8:25

Do you have enough patience to go the distance?

Last week, states began to reopen businesses and there is much disagreement as to the wisdom of rushing our return to “normal”, which still includes social distancing, wearing masks,   and limiting crowd size along with the numbers of shoppers or customers allowed at a time in any business. Time will tell who wins or, if cases spike again, who loses that battle. I choose to be cautious but not everyone does.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                        And our story continues….