Writer's Blog

The Pandemic Panic

While I am walking through the grocery store with a mask secured around my face and tears filling my eyes, the reality of the empty shelves fills my soul with trepidation. Suddenly, things that used to be important to me mean almost nothing as the world reevaluates truth versus denial. Losing an extra five pounds, worrying about the well-earned lines on my face, the makeup that I wear that is probably too expensive for me to afford, and the cream in my hair that isn’t working anymore are all things that I used to manage with way too much significance. Now, with half the world under some kind of quarantine, two of my boys, my husband and I are “trapped” inside our house until we need to venture out to look for toilet paper, which doesn’t seem to exist anymore. Playing board games is a new normal for us, and we play them almost every night, having fun, laughing, and of course one of my sons is taking videos of me going crazy over a Friends’ trivia question that I should have known the answer to without a thought.

As I drive up to Costco and see all the people standing outside, not practicing social distancing, by the way, the reality of our situation suddenly resonates within me. This could get a lot worse before it gets better if we all don’t take social distancing seriously. My family appears to be the only people with masks on our faces, and although masks may be hard to find right now, anything over the face would probably be helpful. I see on my social media that some of my former students are out on road trips instead of staying home. All we need to do is look at the statistics in other countries to know how serious this situation is.  

In closing, I would like to suggest that we make good use of the opportunity we now have with our families while we are cooped up together. Watch movies, pop some popcorn, play games together, and slow down. Reacquaint yourself with your family, find out how everyone is feeling, and try not to get involved in risky behavior that could put you and everyone around you in danger. So, look for the good, look for the joy, and trust that spending a little extra time with family may be something to take advantage of while you are asked to stay at home as much as possible.  

Romans 12:2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.