We are all having to deal with changes, changes to our routine, changes to our finances, changes to our relationships, changes to our comfort zones. One of the frustrating things for me has been the lack of control I can have over the current situation. To be totally transparent this forced change has not affected our family in any dramatic way, yet. I am well aware that that can change in a flash. You see we already were self isolated in a way, we home school, live in a rural location and until recently I worked from home. One of the ironies of this situation is that I am at home again and grateful. Even with a limited impact there are still stresses that normally are not there for our family, for all of us. Three weeks ago we sensed something was changing so we acted, we went to the store, deep cleaned the house and got ready for the wave to come.
For me it took a few days but the constant din of news about the impending doom, or total hoax we were about to experience enveloped me. My wife kept asking what was going on and me in my special man way said I was fine. I wasn’t, I was anxious, a little scared, un-eased about our future and my ability to support and care for my family. Over the past two week I have spent too much time on Facebook, watched too many movies and drank a little too much beer. I was unwilling to admit to myself that I was scared of this new reality we are all experiencing. I was denying that it was having a profound affect on my mood, my thoughts, my relationships. This past weekend my wife and I sat and discussed the changes taking place, she challenged me and I challenged her. As we talked we both realized we had let our circumstances change our attitudes and our ability to handle the stress that was swirling.
Then someone close to me called me, scared, agitated and seeking answers. They had recently relocated to buy and run a small retail business, secured loans, changed routines, changed surroundings, and now their recently new world was changing and it was unnerving them. During the conversation it became clear to me that we all have the ability to let changes, upheavals, shifts, crises destroy our usual patterns, our usual moods, our usual routines. My friend said they were thinking about going to church. Those words rested on my heart, made me think what I truly use as my source of peace, of strength, of direction.
So here it comes the requisite depend on God plea. Yes, I am a follower of Christ and yes I gain comfort, strength and insight because of that relationship with the Creator of all things seen and unseen. Yet, there is more to it than that. We have to be willing to change, change when the world around us is swirling, change when people around us are scared, or angry, or confused. You see what my friend, what we all need to do is share our fears, our thoughts, our needs with each other. One thing this virus has shown me in a greater clarity is the utter hopelessness of doing life alone. When we were created in the image of a loving God, we were connected to each other in ways we see clearly and ways we can never truly understand. No matter how introverted, no matter how extroverted, no matter how young, or old we are created to be connected.
This connection is a source of strength, of empowerment, of peace and we can not let this current chaos destroy it. When we share our fears, our anxiety, our joys, our pain we deepen the ever present connection we all have. When my friend called I was bound to do something, bound to act. We do not need to respond with a perfect cure for their needs, we can never provide that level of help, what we can do is listen, listen without an answer waiting, listen with empathy, with humility, with compassion. Too often we are poised to give a pat answer, an opinion previously formed, a direction that worked for us but may never work for anyone else. We must resist the urge to fix, to cure, to control, to demand, to dictate. Our role as a connected being is to love, to act, to help, to hear, to comfort, to encourage. Sometimes a simple word, a song shared, a writing read is all that is needed.
You see when we let someone who needs to be heard know that we are just as scared, just as anxious, just as confused we build the connection that is part of who and what we are created to be. Our job is not to give the perfect answer, or solution our task is to hear, to dwell, to share, to love, love recklessly, love with all we have. Stop trying to fix, to control, to solve, to compare and start listening. When we stop and listen with humility, with empathy, with passion, we will hear what is being said and we will feel that beautiful, empowering connection that we all need to know is there. And when we empower and release that connection we become more like the one who created us, we become who we really are.