Warning!
If you get on social media, do so at your own risk.
After cleaning all morning, I sat down to eat lunch and went online. The pandemic has taken over the newsfeed. Opinions are all over the map.
Toilet paper shelves have been emptied. Bleach is hard to find. According to some, if you turn off your television, the problem will be solved. It’s the media’s fault. Some believed that it wasn’t any worse than the flu. We have plenty of tests. We don’t have enough tests.
Some people had one opinion yesterday and a new one today. What are we to believe?
I knew from listening to health officials that this particular virus is unique. But yesterday when schools closed statewide, sporting events cancelled left and right, and even the Church in Rome closed, I felt a level of fear that I’ve only felt a few times in my life. The world as I know it and have known it began to grind to a halt. It called those memories from 9/11 to mind.
Our lives have become unmanageable in the midst of this public health emergency. As I thought of that fact, ten years of recovery began to kick into gear.
- We need to admit that we are powerless over this situation.
- And come to believe that there is a power that is greater than ourselves who can lead us to sanity.
- Then we need to make a decision to turn our lives and our will over to His care.
These are the first three steps of my recovery program. I think that they apply to our current situation. They are all important because they help me to slow down and sort my problems or perceived problems into two categories: those that belong to me and those that I turn over to God.
In a time when there are so many opinions, calm can be found when we reach out to God for help because somewhere deep inside of us, we know that this is beyond our human capability.
These first three steps are essential. They help you to reorder the chain of command. Once I have found my rightful place in God’s plan, I look at my part. What can I do to cooperate with God’s plan?
My program would have me make a list of my defects. In this situation, I might look at the ways that my actions could be (unintentionally) contributing to the spread of this virus. Maybe I have been flippant about the severity of the problem. Have I been diligent with hygiene?
Then I have to think about how my actions may have affected others. Just like the spread of the virus, could my actions helped to spread complacency in others?
Then I would need to make amends. I can do this by limiting exposure to crowds (social distancing) and wash my hands for twenty full seconds with soap and water. I can change clothes and shoes after being in public and wash them before they are worn again.
If I do all of these things, I am doing my part. But I will need to maintain this level of diligence. Like the twelve steps, this means that I will take a daily inventory to be sure that I am staying within God’s plan for my day. I need to stay connected with God, through prayer to know his daily plan and I need to give back. I can do that by doing all of these things each and every day.
I can’t see the way forward. But I can trust the one who took two loaves of bread and five fish and fed five thousand. That I can do.
My actions don’t fix the problem. My actions keep me in relationship with God who can fix the problem.
I don’t know about you, but I feel calmer already.Praying for us