The world is watching something unfold that has never happened before. There have been natural disasters and there have been diseases, there have also been pandemics through history. However, what is happening right now is unprecedented in our experience.
The disease that has been unleashed is something that we don’t know. We don’t know what to expect and that is causing so much stress as people wonder what to do.
Industry is grinding to a halt and people are losing their jobs. People are panic buying groceries and other household items. It causes those who don’t buy in such a fashion to have to race around visiting more stores to find what they need. This, at a time when we are being asked to stay indoors.
The news is all about this virus and what is happening in the world. I read today that nurses in Italy have taken their own lives in remorse after being diagnosed. They can’t live with the idea that they may have infected those that they care for.
Parents are working from home and, in many places like where I live, they are being asked to become their children’s teachers with a full curriculum while still trying to get their actual work done. I can’t imagine what parents who have to physically go to work are doing just to have their children watched, let alone try to get their classwork done.
The kind of stress that people are feeling can sometimes be expressed in anger and physical abuse. In a city close to where I live, the police have said that incidents of serious child abuse has escalated dramatically.
I’ve read of younger people in their twenties and thirties blaming older people for all the ills in the world and suggesting that we, as a people, simply let older people die. They say the older individuals are selfish and are leeches on the system without putting anything in. Of course, they are disregarding the fact that the older individuals worked their whole lives and many still work.
Between the stress and the hate and the uncertainty of life, there are two ways to go forward. One is to let hate consume you and to blame others for everything that is wrong.
The second way is to love one another and to reach out and help each other.
The first way leads to death and the second way leads to life.
Christians are called on to love one another. We are called to put our worries, anger, problems and uncertainty in the hands of our Father. We are asked to sacrifice the way that Jesus sacrificed for us. That is, to give without any thought of return. To give to those who hate us.
When you feel like things are spiraling out of control and you are overwhelmed, look first to God and ask for his help. Ask him to send people of God to aid you and call your local church if you have needs. They will be there to help you regardless of whether you are Christians or not.
John 16:31-33
“Do you now believe?” Jesus replied.
“A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”