Life has we have known it for all of our years has been suddenly and severely altered.
If you are working, you are vulnerable. If you are locked down at home, everything about your daily routine has been changed. We feel like we are living in a syfy novel in which a microscopic organism, a type of flu, has changed the world.
The result of this tiny bug is loss: loss of identity, independence, security (financial and health), loss of businesses, livelihood, and loss of life. When we lose something important; we need to grieve.
But we also need hope.
A couple of days ago I had to cancel our much-anticipated vacation to the southern Appalachians and the Gulf Coast of Florida. The two people I talked to were delightful and concerned for our well-being. Refunds were no problem because “we are all in this together” and we are “in uncharted territory.” As we talked for a while, happy to have someone to swap stories with, these calls that I dreaded became a source of encouragement.
So, we slog on trying to keep things as normal and as safe as possible. As we slog on, we come in contact with others who are slogging on. We hear their stories and tell them ours. We are not alone. Compassion oozes up from the candid conversations.
We care about each other.
On this Palm Sunday, we cannot deny this pandemic of disease and its resultant loss, but we can start our own pandemic, a pandemic of hope.
Do you have a story of hope?
