honest to God photo by Karen
Of course, I have a built-in excuse: the unrelenting, oppressive, step-into-a-furnace-when-you-step-out-the-door, unending heat! I took that photo at 4:05 today. I haven’t sat out on my porch, my haven (see blog post 3/11/2020), all week long. This heat paralyzes.
But Pandemic Fever has not just struck me, and it is not only in Dallas. I have relatives in New Orleans and San Francisco and Bend and Seattle and Port Townsend and Squamish, British Columbia—and they all attest to symptoms similar to those listed above. Even my senior golf buds, usually the most congenial guys on the planet (and why not—we’re playing golf!), were more quarrelsome this week than I’ve ever seen them. And I see more and more evidence of this malady on social media—my Trumpite friends are lapsing into wilder-than-ever conspiracy theories, and the Bidenites are begging for more and more money. No one seems very happy.
My heart goes out especially to the teachers. While struggling with the same effects of the pandemic that we all are, they are being asked to step up their game. They will have to work harder this year than they ever have. Online and in-class teaching. Special duties and precautions. Frequently unsympathetic parents and administrators to deal with. Uncooperative students (true, we have some of those to deal with every year). And remember, they will be doing all of this in an environment that is undeniably, incontrovertibly hazardous to their own health.
Sadly, we don’t have a cure for Pandemic Fever. I have to confess that up to this point most of my virus-related prayers have been directed toward His keeping our loved ones safe and His using the pandemic to straighten out the mess this country has become. But I too am stepping up my game—I am praying full-time for a vaccine. We need to get past this. There will undoubtedly be a new normal, but any normal sounds pretty good right now.
In the meantime, my two crutches are God and faith. I believe things have to get better. I believe our country is changing its political direction. I believe there is an overwhelming unifying effect of the virus—the recognition of our need to help each other. This is a marathon, not a sprint. As the apostle James says …the testing of our faith produces endurance…; and as Paul says …endurance produces character, and character produces hope.
Yes. So true! Love you. Always appreciate your writings and perspective.
Well said, and I concur.