COVID-19 isn’t about what we have lost; it’s about finding the strength to deal with our pain. It’s about finding the wisdom to deal with our divisiveness, our hatred, our inability to get along, our inability to care for anyone else but ourselves. Facing the truth about who we have become as individuals, as a country, and as a world is really what’s at stake here.
This battle is not about winning or losing; it’s about how we fight the battle. One day, we will wake up, and this crisis will be over, not without pain and hardship, but because of them. Life is too precious not to fight; we are too precious to God not to stand our ground and care for ourselves, our loved ones, and the peoples of the world.
A bug we cannot see does not know our hearts. When we put our hearts, minds, and souls together, it cannot survive; it will not defeat us! This is our day to show this insidious monster what we are made of. Our survival will come about because of our will to stand together, to do the right thing and stay home, and to put our faith in our medical personnel and the scientists. Beyond that faith, God is watching. He loves us and will walk beside us. All we need do is put the combined faiths of everyone on this planet together in the one true God Almighty.
We cannot do it alone; together, we can defeat this relentless, uncompromising beast called COVID-19. If this is the first time you have prayed, pray with all of your heart, because He will hear your cries. If you are a non-believer, pray as though your life depends on it, because He will open His arms to you, maybe for the first time. If you are a believer, pray with all of your heart, mind, soul, and spirit, because Christ has paid with His life for your sins. Do this, all the peoples of the earth, and God will carry us through to a brighter future, albeit a changed future.
Realizing that everyone one of us has walked the earth, blind to the needs of others and sometimes, putting ourselves above others, God is watching and listening to all of us. It is my prayer that you will heed the meaning of this verse from Ezekiel 36:26 KJV. “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.” In paraphrasing the words of “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” from the musical, “Carousel,” we should lift our heads high and not be afraid of this darkness. When this storm is over, there will be a wonderful world to walk, once again. We will hear the birds sing, the wind and the rain will replenish our earth, and as long as we have hope in our hearts, we’ll never walk on alone. In the meaning of ubuntu, an African term, “I am because we are.”
Anna Hartt
