He waved the green liquid in front of my face like a trophy. “Look, Mom, I found two, do you want one?” And like a dummy, I said I was all good and he could keep both the sanitizers because his little family would need them.
I knew I had some gel in my car, but I didn’t take into account the other family car—had none. So when in that I car my mind whizzes around like a merry-go-round at high speed as I think of where I’ve been and what I’ve touched. And where did I put those gloves? When I could have had a brand new bottle of sanitizer tucked snug in the console. Ugh!
What have we become? Instead of swapping tales of the latest bargain finds in the shoe department, or newest movie theater releases seen, we swap toilet paper and hand sanitizer stories. My assistant lamented the huge bottle—half-used— she had sitting around forever. She moved last summer and chunked it.
So how are you doing friend? Are you weathering the storm or are the loneliness and isolation eating your lunch? Is your fear abating or gaining momentum? Are you in the same boat with me, missing “normal”?
And as the days roll into weeks and your dripping ice cream finally falls off the cone with a resounding splat, do you find yourself mourning, “Life used to be so easy—and I took it all for granted?”
And the melting begins with the plop, plop of unanswerable questions—
Will we never again hug and kiss and shake hands with abandon? When will we be able to pack the churches and stadiums and movie theaters? Will we relax our guard only to have this plague resurface?
And on those days when I’m deep in the thick it, I think of this quote:
“If you feed your faith, your fears will starve. If you feed your fears, your faith will starve. We have to do intentional things to feed our faith.” —Max Lucado
So one of my intentional things is to focus on the positive.
Top ten positive things to remind ourselves of during our sheltering:
- Toilet paper won’t always be in short supply.
- Flour can be found eventually, even if a masked and gloved husband— goes to 5 stores over two different days. Or you have a sweet friend feel sorry for you and bring you some.
- Learning to wash my hands every 15 minutes is not such a bad idea anyway.
- Look at the extra time as a blessing not a curse. My closet has never been so clean and my paper piles are slowly shrinking.
- Making cookies three times in one week with the grand-baby is a great memory maker. Those calories don’t count—Right?
- Wearing a mask and gloves is like attending a perpetual costume party. Not!
- I am remembering the joy of a real handwritten letter.
- A phone call or zoom call works wonders when I’m missing my friends and church family.
- Pick a book of the Bible and digest it slow. I read the Psalms for comfort.
- Embrace a day with no plans. There lives a true beauty in “slow” and “alone” and “quiet.” We extraverts must learn not to chafe against it. Maybe I’m getting the hang of it…
But on days when I begin to lose my footing, I return to these truths I can taste and see—
—The Psalms feed my faith.
—My God is greater than any pandemic.
—And when I fail miserably at keeping fear at bay, he steps in and says,
“Give it all to me my child. Give me your angst and worries and woes.
Give me your fears and sadness and lonely heart.
I can mend what you cannot.”
I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame.
This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;
he saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them.
Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
Psalm 34:4-8
What are your intentional actions to feed your faith and starve your fear during this time of distress?