Another Day

Well, it's another day with stay-at-home. The daylight outside is getting longer, and the days inside are getting longer as well. We are beginning to adjust to the new normal, but that adjustment is anything but easy or quick.

We have discovered that many (not all, of course) of us can work from home and accomplish much the same work as we do when we go into an office or business. We are realizing that we can use those things in our kitchen called cooking utensils, and that we can create some good food. We are finding things to do with our time, such as cleaning the house, working on puzzles, catching up on reading, or any number of other things. Some of us are using connectivity such as Zoom and other platforms for the first time. You probably have developed your own routine during these days.

And it looks like it won't end anytime soon. Contrary to the idea that we would be over this by Easter, it looks as if we'll be in this situation through April and well into May...possibly June. We'll tire of the puzzles. The house will have been thoroughly cleaned. We'll long for the privilege of eating at Olive Garden. Our hair will have grown considerably more than we would have liked. And we'll find that our limited cooking skills have become somewhat tiresome.

But I'll tell you now, these are first world problems. Much of the world has nothing like the house we live in. They haven't a clue what a puzzle is. How do you clean a dirt floor in an open-air hut? There are no Olive Gardens in the bush. Self-care often consists of finding water for the day that is decently clean. And as for cooking...well, it doesn't take much to cook the same corn mash every day, day after day after day.

The more I see and the more I hear, I'm convinced that we are in this for the long haul. And when it's over, it won't be the same as it was. Just as 9-11 fundamentally changed the world, so this as well will fundamentally change how the world looks and works. We will have lost another measure of our innocence. No longer will we assume that medical science can save us from anything and everything. No longer will we assume that if we only have enough dollars accumulated, we are invincible. No longer will we believe that the world will continue to go merrily along day after day giving, providing, and making our lives wonderful and fulfilled.

The gods of medical science, wealth, and national pride are being cut down to size by a virus that can't be seen, heard, touched, tasted, or smelled. Medical science started out behind, and has scrambled to catch up ever since. Our wealth is of no value when the economy has stopped. And our national pride is suffering because of government's inability to swoop in and save the day...instead, government is limiting our freedoms, throwing money it doesn't have at the problem, and displaying incompetence, lack of planning, and bureaucratic bungling in the face of an unseen enemy.

I'm not going to end this with platitudes such as, “We're all in this together,” or “Social distancing,” or some other. This will be a long, grueling slog over the next several months. And it will be years before any semblance of normal returns, if it ever does. My hope is that we will have examined ourselves, our community, and our society during this time and will have not only determined to make some fundamental changes, but will have actually begun to effect those changes. And what might those changes be? “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”