May I tell you a secret? I tend to sit back and watch rather than engage whenever things get a little dicey...and COVID-19 is a bit over the "little dicey" line. Just a bit. You know, like a mile or so. And the worse things get, the more I step back. There are both good and bad things about that, but it means I've disappeared and not entirely because of the shelter in place order.
I have no great wisdom as a result of my hibernation. I wish I could report that I've delved deeper into the heart of God and found solace there, or that I've spent hours in my writing office working through my angst. But that would be lying. Truth is I've spent hours in my craft room making cards and scrapbooking. I even created a layout from my wedding rehearsal dinner. Yeah...I'm only 35 years behind. On the bright side, I've stopped biting my nails. I keep picturing little viruses on my fingers. I've even started wearing nail polish. It's the weirdest thing. I keep looking at my hands wondering who they belong to.
Here's the one thing I want to say about this pandemic:
The opposite of love isn't hate but fear. I thought this was true six weeks ago; I'm convinced of it now. We're so worried about where our next meal (or roll of toilet paper) is coming from, we don't think about how buying six times our normal amount affects our fellow citizens. We don't hoard because we hate them; we do it because we're afraid we won't have what we need later on. Fear causes us to see monsters. Whether they take the form of the woman coughing in the produce aisle or the government taking away rights, we go into fight or flight mode. We either disappear (Becca raises her hand) or shout our displeasure to our world - meaning both the physical space we occupy and our social media contacts.
And fear is the real enemy. It's not something "out there," it's inside of us.
COVID-19 will probably be around for several years. We need to make peace with it. We need to make peace with each other. We can't afford to live our lives in fear. Jesus said that perfect love casts out fear and that people will know we're "his" by our love for one another. My Bible study leader asked a question a few weeks ago. It shook me up in the best way, so I want to leave you with this question:
Who do you want to be on the other side of this pandemic?
I want to be someone who dispelled fear with love. For my family, for my friends, and for my world.