The Virus

I am writing this while listening to the Senate debate the pending legislation which will literally create out of thin air about two trillion dollars, which will be distributed to many different entities to help combat the financial effects of the Covid 19 virus.  As of this writing, the vote hasn’t been taken, so I don’t know how this will turn out.

Nor do I know how this whole pandemic thing will turn out.  We could turn the corner in a few weeks, or it could be several months that the virus hangs around.  And I suspect that the virus will always be with us in some form or another.  Hopefully, we can develop a vaccine to combat its spread, just as we do with influenza and other illnesses.

The other unknown is the recovery of the economy.  We may be in a kind of a morass of recession for several years.  Or we may snap out of it in a few months.

There is so much that is unknown right now.  We humans don’t like not knowing.  We like to at least THINK that we know what is coming our way, even when we know deep within us that we have no clue about the next minute, let alone the next day, month, or year.  We fool ourselves into thinking we’ve got the world (and our lives) by the tail.  And we live like it, too.  However, the reality is that we don’t know if we’ll take another breath, let alone eat another meal.  I may not finish this blog post.

The virus pandemic has made many of us stop and reconsider our daily lives and routines.  It has forced us to consider things besides whether or not the “Y” will be busy this evening when we go to exercise.  We now are considering things besides whether to get fried chicken or Chinese at the Dillons deli for dinner tonight.   We are now considering more of the basics and feel a great sense of helplessness against an enemy that is unseen, mostly unknown, and more stealthy than a cat pursuing a mouse.

We are being hauled up short by the truth that we really aren’t in charge.  We don’t know it all.  We haven’t prepared for all situations.  Our 401-K funds, our BMW’s, and our club memberships do little for us in times like these.  Suddenly, bread, hamburger, and toilet paper take center stage in our lives as we scramble to adjust to a new normal.

I don’t know how this will all end.  Yes, we’ve been through hardship before.  Yes, we’ve always managed to overcome.  But the scars of those battles last a lifetime.  Those who fought in WWII never completely shed the scars of battle.  The same for Vietnam, Korea, and Desert Storm.  Those of us who lived through the Oklahoma City bombing or the Twin Towers disaster will never be the same.  The assassinations of the 1960’s, the civil rights movement…those and others forever change us in some way, both as a nation and as individuals.  And this pandemic will also change us in some way.

My hope is that change will be for the good.  My hope is that we will become a better people…a society that recognizes its failures as well as its successes.  My hope is that we will begin to better acknowledge the God of heaven and earth and turn toward him instead of away.  Will those things happen?  I haven’t a clue.  But I do know that I can make a difference by the way I think, behave, and speak.  I can acknowledge God and serve him as best I can.

I can only change me.  God in heaven, I do acknowledge you as the Lord and God of the universe.  I repent of my failings in life…my greed, jealousy, sense of superiority, apathy toward the needs of others, and a host of other sins and failures.  Continue to work with me as a work-in-progress as I open my heart to those around me in service to them.  Give me the wisdom and strength to do “abundantly more than I could ever think or ask.”