How are you holding up?  We are living in such extraordinary times.  I will admit it.  I have been perhaps a tad cavalier about this whole Covid-19 thing.  Trying hard to wrap my head around it, taking all the precautions but not wanting to give in to fear.  And then it happens… We know someone, who knows someone, and it starts hitting closer and closer to home. 

My brother, who is a Captain with the City of Los Angeles Fire Department, has one perspective.  My daughter, who’s college graduation just got canceled, has another.  And in between, the rest of us fall; grappling with work functions and going to the grocery story and praying that God will keep us all safe. 

I don’t know about you, but outside of the obvious, I have been distracted in my conversations with God.  Not that I don’t believe He has it all figured out.  He does.  There is just so much noise, so much banter, so much finger pointing… It’s been hard to settle into the quiet of prayer and to know what it is that needs to be said. More than this, it has been harder to hear what needs to be heard. 

My grandmother used to say about difficult issues, “We need to get down to brass tacks.”  In other words, what’s really important here?  

It takes time to let the dust settle and for our thoughts to orient themselves into the hierarchy of truth.  Our priorities fall into order.  We begin to think less and less about our overdue nail appointments, and more about how our loved ones are fairing.  We are all rowing in the same boat, and miraculously we learn to filter out the extraneous for the imperative. 

I don’t mean this to sound like I am saying God is in the virus.  I am simply saying God is in this place we are all in, and what He is doing is profound.  

As close as we already are, my youngest daughter and I are talking, laughing, cleaning cabinets, washing cars, making puzzles… We are taking long walks, making dinner together, listening to each other’s heart in a way we haven’t for a long time.  Our iPhones see less of our faces, an impossibility before now. 

It’s funny, isn’t it?  It’s as if God is pealing away the layers of nonsense, revealing for us what is underneath it all.  He’s slowing us down, clearing up the static, causing us to take inventory of our blessings, and helping us to see — really see — who and what is most important. 

He’s bring us down to brass tacks.  

We have been addicted to noise and distraction.  It’s taken away our focus, corrupted our desires, disabled our ability to deeply sense His presence, because we have been taught that our wants and needs can be satisfied by gadgets and whatnots and letting the good times roll.  

All lies. 

He is the most important.  He is the source of our protection. He has given to us blessings that we have sometimes failed to notice.  He wants us to know that our bonds, our families, our honesty, our love, our faithfulness, our trust… these are the roots that hold us together.  Without these, we are nothing. 

The cadence of life has slowed in so many ways.  But I am finding it more in sync with the beating of my heart.  It’s easier somehow to pray, to sense community, benevolence, grace… To notice the little things that have been so taken for granted.   

For many of us, these times are a challenge — financially, in our health or concern for those we love, for the conveniences we are used to having at our finger tips… But there are silver linings.

God is always at work.  It feels a bit like we are wandering in the desert, unsure of what comes next.  But He is guiding us, causing us to depend on Him.  

Be still. 

This will all be over very soon.  And somehow, someway… we will be better for it.  

There are always silver linings if we look for them. 

Take care of each other. Be safe.

Blessings to you and yours.