WITHOUT a mistake these are trying times, it’s crystal clear because of Covid-19.
Actually, as the numbers are increasing it really gets personal sending many of us to a degree of paranoia. Though we are all found in this box of a pandemic predicament, choosing how we face the crisis is still ours. The limitations of our liberty are now necessary, we need to abide by what health authorities and government authorities must somehow toe the line. It is also in times like these that we are given an opportunity to do things that we have neglected to do- to see who we are inside. This is a good time in a way we are all “forced” to look inside, people call this a life-defining moment.
Regardless of our belief or religious convictions, we look at life and rediscover its brevity, we look at our values and see the horror of how materialism has infected the core of our beings. On the brighter side, we look at the heroism of many, especially our health front liners, military, police, and the media.
Despite the quarantine protocol, people manage to extend grace to each other. In times like these take the opportunity to really look inside without sanitizing it! Pause, ponder, and pray are wonderful response that opens a wider space to encounter God.
In times like these, it’s crystal clear that the powerful nations and powerful people are not really powerful! We are trapped into facing the tensions we can no longer deny, the tension between desiring to help and yet wanting to protect ourselves. We all deal with the monster of addiction to over self-preservation; cynicism is much more devastating than COVID-19 itself. Actually, there is a need to keep a note or a journal of reflections in times like these. Believe me, memories are deliberately short! In times like these, we are humbled to know and accept that we are not in charge. In times like these, we painfully see poverty and the marginalize trying to lug it out for daily sustenance, while others take advantage of the weak. These raw realities will never apologize nor can be sanitized we have to see them face to face.
In times like these our liberty need to shake hands with limitations. Our compassion needs to slug it out with our greed. Our arrogance and prejudice somehow need to melt in the presence of suffering humanity. Social distancing, are not just health protocol it reveals a lot of untameable realities of how we are really apart from each other. Of all the sermons preached on our church, all that makes sense to me now is the prayer of the lepers “Jesus, Master, Have mercy on us” AMEN. Above the health protocol, let’s take time to look inside our hearts. Believe me more virus inside “LORD HAVE MERCY”.