They won’t be afraid of bad news;
their hearts are steady because they trust the Lord.
Psalm 112:6 (NCV)
“We are in a war.” I hear this repeated refrain on the TV, Internet, and radio so I’m going to resort to some military language.
I have been shellshocked all week. Cancelling every appointment and gathering on my calendar has left me staring at all the white space wondering what next. And furthermore, what am I now supposed to do with my time? I’ve done a lot of coloring and watching the news. I don’t even have any drawers or closets to clean since we recently moved and cleared it all out at that time.
I understand the need for social distancing (I don’t think this is a military phrase but certainly one I am unfamiliar with.) I have read up on COVID-19 and why this is so perilous to our world. Yet, it doesn’t make it any easier to stay home all the time. I live in an apartment complex and one of my upstairs neighbors stopped by earlier in the week to let me know he would be happy to run errands and get anything I needed (I’m in that at-risk age group.) Yesterday, he rang the doorbell again and asked me how I was doing. It was not a good day. I just want to get out of here. But he works in the medical industry and laid down the law — stay inside. OK. He even gave me five face masks if I have to go out. His comment, “It’s something,” makes sense.
The hardest part for me is what will our world look like when we are on the other side of this crisis. I remember how the nation shifted after 9/11. What new things will change and our grandchildren never know what it used to be like? My heart aches for my granddaughter who is a senior in high school. All the activities, hopes and dreams that lead up to graduation are cancelled or put on hold. She is sad and so am I.
I’m not afraid. I know that God is in control and I’m His child. He has known this pandemic would rear its ugly head since the beginning of time. And the worst would actually be the best — to be home with Jesus.
But to use another military term — soldier on. We must put one foot in front of the other for as many days as we need to battle the invisible enemy until it is defeated. This upset in routine may result in new and better ways of doing things that we would have never even thought about. And we will pray that it will turn hearts to the only one who can solve this…our Heavenly Father, Jehovah Sabaoth.
God give us steady hearts during unsteady times.
Ready.
March.