Right now, I am sitting in my home like many of you feeling very disturbed and shocked over what is taking place in our world at this time.
In my lifetime, I never thought I would experience something like this. I’m sitting on my sofa Facetiming my friends and family because well, I am trying to be selfless and responsible to protect them by keeping my distance. With modern technology, I am making it work just like many of you.
I’m not going to lie, while scrolling through my news feed, I see post after post about this pandemic that has literally infected my news feed, but it is the posts in between the madness that are keeping me feeling hopeful and positive.
It is the moms and dads who are working full-time jobs from home, managing to teach their children and keep them calm during this unusual time. It is the small business owners doing everything they can to survive and help other small businesses survive. It is our healthcare providers sharing their knowledge and tirelessly serving the public while the rest of us sit indoors to ride this out.
I’m leaving out so many scenarios, but for the first time in my life, I can honestly say I am seeing my community united like never before.
I see my community bonding and working together to help out friends and neighbors from a distance. I see people sharing ideas and strategizing how we can support local businesses. I see people trying to stay entertained and safe while keeping our lively, playful young children entertained safe.
It is the posts in between the chaos that are keeping me feeling hopeful.
In this moment, I am thinking about how different my news feed looked just three weeks ago. It surely didn’t look like this. I didn’t see this type of togetherness and unity. I didn’t see the words “stay well” and “we are all in this together.” I saw political backlash and selfies of people on vacation living their best lives.
What I ask myself now is this…if our lives would not be infected with this current situation, would I see this type of unity? Let’s be honest, it often takes a serious situation to put our priorities in check.
This is not surprising, but my prayers are the same as many of yours.
I pray for my family, my elderly grandmother, my parents, my loved ones, my friends and their children, our healthcare workers and their families, cancer patients and all those who are ill.
Most importantly, I am praying for our world.
But a prayer I catch myself saying more often is, once this chaos is over, I pray that I remember these times. I pray that I remember this type of togetherness. I pray that I remember the unity and how precious times with my loved ones are.
I pray that I remember how life as I know it can change in just a matter of hours. I’m realizing right now that it’s truly the little things in life, like going to the grocery store and visiting with my loved ones, that mean the most to me.
I pray that in a year from now, on March 23, 2021, I reread this post and remember how uncertain life can be.
I pray I learn from this.
I pray we all learn from this.
As it is stated all over my news feed, we are all in this together.