It is time to put today’s world and current events into perspective. I have been thinking a lot lately about the crisis the world is going through and the impacts for both the short-term and the long-term. Many people have been impacted due to the disease. Many others have been impacted by the reactions of governments to the disease. The closing of businesses has caused millions to lose their jobs. Most of them have no safety net to carry them through for an extended period. Millions have been shuttered in their homes either due to government orders/instructions or for fear of getting the disease. Our economy and way of life have been disrupted to the point of being unrecognizable.
I could talk about government overreach and the direction the country is being pushed in. I could talk about how complacently we are willing to accept the impositions, but I won’t. I would like to talk about something many will find even more controversial.
The current crisis comes on the heels of years of war, pestilence, famine, natural disasters, and a decline of the human spirit. We have all gotten tired of the constant impending peril message we hear daily from the news sources. Many people have given up, become depressed, committed suicide, or find it difficult to face the world each day. The mental toll on the human spirit is devastating despite our efforts to suppress emotions of fear, anger, disgust, and disappointment. What exactly can be done? How can we combat not the disease but the consequences of the disease?
For me, the answer has been maintaining a relationship with God. Developing a relationship with God, maintaining it and nurturing it has a real impact on how you can confront all adversity. Whatever form this relationship takes for you, it will allow you to take action based on thought and reasoning rather than on fear and desperation. You can move forward with greater confidence, trusting his hand will guide us all through these events. Pray if you so desire, attend religious services, help others, give of yourself. Whatever helps you maintain your relationship is what you should pursue. It doesn’t matter what religion or church you attend or believe in. It doesn’t matter whether you call him God, supreme being, the universe or whatever you choose. What matters is your attitude, your hope, your belief, your faith, and trust.
Maybe you are like me, one who strayed from the path originally set upon as a child or adolescent but I never really lost my way, because I knew God was with me, watching over me. My life could have gone in so many different directions with very different consequences but I was always confident God would follow with me and help me to survive. It has not always been easy. There were occasionally serious doubts when I questioned my belief. But even in my doubts, I was able to continue knowing God was watching over my shoulder.
So, in this time of crisis, I urge you to count your blessings, name them one by one, see what God has done for you. And remember there is life after this crisis just as there has been life after every crisis throughout history.
