My two-year-old was puking all over me the other evening.
The initial scare was a little unnerving, especially since the first case ever of Coronavirus in the U.S. was in my hometown, the one I grew up in and live close to now.
Then, as the epidemic spread, I will admit, it was a little startling. The first death, again, was here in Washington state.
A lot has changed since January 25th, 2020 when the first person in the United States, a 35 year-old man, tested positive in Snohomish County.
My husband and I went on a date the other day. We went to sushi, the park & to a local store, all usually packed with people, especially on a Sunday.
This last week, however? There were empty seats everywhere at our favorite restraunt. No lines while shopping, and the department store we usually can’t get a parking spot at, was barren and empty.
Everything feels strange and eerie.
My husband and I went to a park on our date, to walk along the sunny dock. This park has a playground, one usually crammed with kids laughing and screaming, especially on this rare winter, sunny day.
I mean, if you know anything about Washington, we get between 25 and nearly 120 inches of rain each year. This part of the country lives in darkness and so any rare glimpse of sun, the world is up and outside rejoicing.
But this day, we didn’t need to park in the overflow parking area. We drove up nice and close, got out and couldn’t hear anything; no laugher, no talking, no children wildly playing.
The park was quiet. Silent. The atmosphere of the handful of families that wandered the beach, grass, playground and grassy areas was tranqil and sullen.
Things are far from “normal” in our state of Washington right now.
People are washing their hands constantly. Meetings are being closed, daily, seemingly everywhere we go. It’s been two weeks now, my daughter’s music academy will be closed.
Unlike the initial mad rush of people barging through the stores to stalk up on toilet paper and medicine…most rarely leave their houses now, unless they have to.
The grocery isles are empty…even on a Sunday.
And although an elderly man we know from our old church is struggling for his life. And we read of other friend’s on Facebook struggling from Coronavirus (Fb post here) I have to ask….
What are we all so afraid of?
Why are we all cocooning and cowering to such fears? Hiding from the world? Don’t our families and children deserve so much more than nightly news spreading of constant paralizing warnings?
What if today was the last day or this week the last week with our families? Would we want to spend it hunkered down in fear, hiding from the light, terrified of what “might” be?
Or do we want to live life fully, in the joy of knowing today is a gift, regardless of what tomorrow brings?
And I am thankful for that morning, The one God pre-warned me to “not worry”.
Reminding me how worry divides our minds. How we can’t accomplish anything when our feet are spread; one foot standing on “truth” and the other foot divided, on “worry”.
Worry can never co-exist with faith.
Either we have faith or we don’t. And having faith is a choice we make by every small heroic decision.
Science can share statistics but panic robs everybody from today, leaving us with nothing to give.
My littlest was sick the other day. She got better, but then a few days later, she started having tummy problems again. My husband and I then observed a similar link. What we found was that dried mangos were somehow linked to her stomach issues.
It appears, my daughter didn’t have the epidemic the whole worlds fears. She was simply sick because of eating too many sugary mangos.
Yet, why do we so often run to fear, as if it somehow might “help” us?
Another of my kids teacher’s just sent me an e-mail from her Academy. This school will not be cancelled. They are taking precautions, but they are choosing to have school.
I looked at the bottom of the e-mail and felt relief. It read, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)
A sound mind doesn’t need to refresh the rising death count or daily track how close a virus is coming to their hometown.
Peace and truth gives us hope and let’s us live this moment, prioritizing our lives as if He is still in it, he is in control and he is enough for whatever tomorrow might bring.
A friend who works with medical staff recently shared, people with symptoms of the flu are being told to
“drive up” to the curb in front of a clinic. They don’t even go in. There, a nurse runs out to the curb where all the cars are parked. They test each patient for the flu and staff infections and then are sent on their way.
Most people here, in Washington, still aren’t being tested for Coronavirus. Only those in high risk catagories (such as the elderly) and those with specific symptoms such as a high fever and breathing problems.
Yet, lines of cars line the clinics. Fear of loved ones dying are paralizing a society from actually ever living.
And so, I must ask…What is better? To live, hiding in your home in fear that you “might” get THE virus, or to embrace life boldly, counting each moment a blessing?
Maybe wisdom isn’t swarming malls where people are coughing, or taking sick people out in public.
But why not get outdoors, hold hands with those we love without fear, take a walk, or throw the ball to our kids, showing them faith in face of a newsmedia, profiting off our trepidation.
The world has enough fear. Yet, isn’t the fear we breath, a far greater risk to our “quality of life” than any cornoavirus that ever comes our way?
