CoronaBlessings

March 24, 2020

I’ve often listened to older people speak wistfully of days gone by when “life was slower.” Well, we have it! Some have responded with panic, emptying store shelves that normally are overflowing. Many of us bemoan not being able to gather for worship or fellowship. Still others are being creative. I’ve broken my strict Facebook Lenten fast to stay in touch with our children, and have been impressed by how they have taken what is generally an inconvenience or worse, and are making the best of it. 

Our daughter Jessie and her family have created the “Andersen/Anderson” challenge with their friends (what else?) the Andersons, inventing goofy games they can play via Facetime. Their FB post shows the Andersons in full sport attire, seemingly ready for anything.

Son Matt is seen hard at work from home, teaching math to his students, while Jeanine has enlisted (impressed?) her children into service deep cleaning the house.

Nate and crew gathered in their living room singing to the Lord in full harmony with guitar and bass accompaniment. Their neighbors the Pascoes responded with beautiful harmonies of their own. Joe must have been the videographer—a decision appreciated by all. I am a bit jealous, not being able to join them musically.

We’ve been busy. Linda painted the trim in the upstairs bathroom; a task she’s been wanting to tackle for years. Spurred on by the success of my first effort at chair caning, I retrieved an antique rocker from the garage loft, washed it down, stripped and stained it preparatory to varnish and a new seat. 

None of these things would have happened had our lives not been upended by this coronavirus. Make no mistake: it is not good, but our God is able to bring good out of the bad if we are willing to adjust and adapt. That’s the kind of God we serve in Jesus Christ. Death has its resurrection, suffering its reward, and obstacles their opportunities. Tonight, I give thanks to God, who inspired Jeremiah to write these words in the midst of the destruction I of his beloved Jerusalem:

“Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. 

My soul has them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. 

This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. 

It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, 

because his compassions fail not. 

They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. 

The Lord is my portion, says my soul; therefore will I hope in him. 

The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.”

—Lamentations 3:19-25 KJV