As we begin emerging from our version of the Plague Year, many of us are looking forward to something we call “returning to normal.” If that is all we are going to do, return to the pre-pandemic rush where we did not savor each and every moment of life, then “normal” will only bring us back to lives seemingly busy and often empty.
When the shutdown first occurred, very few of us realized that it would last a bit more than a year. We are now at 13 months and many of us are still in our cocoons, though I imagine most of us do not feel like butterflies ready to take wing.
What have been the effects of the Plague Year on us? Physically. Emotionally. And spiritually. In the beginning, it forced us to make a screeching halt on our busy-ness. Internalizing the lessons of a Plague Year is not easy but so very necessary.
Prayer for the Day
Trapped in the past, we deny your grace that can empower us,
And as a consequence, we deny you by our neglect of others.
Afraid of the future, we look backward at what has been,
Causing us to miss your vital presence in our lives today
Help us to walk into the future with hope and trust,
As did the One who always trusted in you,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen
Thoughts or the Day
There are times in our lives when we have to realize our past is precisely what it is, and we cannot change it. But we can change the story we tell ourselves about it, and by doing that, we can change the future
Eleanor Brown, novelist
It now requires an act of imagination to understand what infectious disease formerly meant to humankind, or even to our own grandfathers.
William McNeill, historian, from Plagues and People (1917-2016)
The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer;
My God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation
I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, so I shall be saved from my enemies.
Psalm 18::2=6