To begin with, I should add my usual disclaimer. I will be discussing religion and my personal beliefs here. If this makes you uncomfortable or angry, please skip this post and come back some other time.
As most of the world currently sits in lockdown over the Coronavirus it’s hard not to have the pandemic on our minds. Being home together all day long and the general lack of any other news has noticeably killed conversation between my wife and I. We really have to work at finding things to talk about besides the virus and resultant quarantine.
So of course I’m going to talk about the that now. I’ve observed some things over the past month since things started heating up here in the States, and I want to share some thoughts with those who might appreciate it.
To me the story of this quarantine begins around a year and a half ago. The leaders of my church, who I believe to be prophetic representatives of Christ, implemented a change in our worship structure toward a “home-centered, church-supported” model. It happened to result in one hour less to our usual three-hour Sunday meeting schedule, and that’s what most of us here in the United States chose to focus on. I saw it somewhat differently.
You see, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which I’m a member, is an international church, with members in nearly every country of the world. Many of those countries are not as stable, or not as supportive of public worship, as others. I saw this as a step toward making sure the church membership are prepared to function independently when any number of reasons make it difficult, dangerous, or completely impossible to meet together as a congregation. I saw this as a major benefit for them.
Fast-forward to today. We’re locked in a world-wide pandemic and encouraged–if not required–to isolate ourselves at home. Not just the third-world countries, but pretty much every country. Our church leaders were ahead of many local governments in closing down church gatherings of any kind. I haven’t met with my local congregation in over three weeks. The last church-related gathering I was involved in was, ironically, a service project in which the group of teen boys I work with got together to clean all the toys in the church’s nursery to help decrease the spread of other diseases.
By the end of that week we received notification that we were to start holding church meetings at home. Most of us hardly skipped a beat. We started holding our own worship services, scripture study groups, and family religious discussions. And it’s been a great experience. No need to run afoul of the government authorities like in some places. No floundering about wondering what to do. This has been a test of the home-centered, church supported system, and I think we passed.
In fact our congregation continues to lead the neighborhood in providing safe activities where we can all support each other through all of this, such as encouraging everyone to draw chalk pictures and write encouragements on our sidewalks, and then take walks (maintaining safe distance) to admire one another’s work. One morning last week we all awoke to find a yellow balloon tied to each and every mailbox in an attempt to scatter sunshine.
In any case, it’s clear to me that the leaders of our church our inspired. They may not have known specifically that COVID-19 was looming around the corner, but the changes they made came in time for us to be spiritually self-sufficient when it came. What I thought might be a benefit to a few troubled areas of the world here and there became a world-wide test of just how well we had listened to our leaders and prepared to take the lead in our homes.
Just as important, knowing that God knows what’s coming and is actively working to help us prepare has been a tremendous reassurance to me. I won’t say things haven’t gotten me down, because there have been a few days when I’ve hard difficulty getting out of bed in the morning because I’m just so tired of it all. But even then, when I’ve prayed for the strength and light to keep going those prayers have been answered. God cares enough about me individually to step in and lift me up.
I’ll be honest. The hard part in all of this is not the isolation. I’m an introvert. I have things to do. My family gives me all the social contact I need. It’s not working from home, though I’m still not a fan. It’s some people on social media. Most are troupers, posting up positive stuff, fun parodies, impromptu concerts, and other entertaining and encouraging things. But there are those few out there who seem to like to spread discord, negativity, criticism, and conspiracy theories. They suck all the energy out of me if I let them.
I realize that the government is being particularly invasive just now, and it’s not unwarranted to suspect them of a major power grab. On the other hand, most of the people I’m hearing this from are very firmly on one side of the political spectrum and have been quite vocal in their support (nigh unto belief in divine provenance) of the current administration, so I’m not sure why they’re so concerned about this all of a sudden.
Yes, I’m rather disappointed in some of our political leaders right now, and I’m also rather disgusted with our media who seem to prefer our medical personnel go without sufficient supplies and gear than accept such from people of religious belief. If I were in an at-risk role and presented with a properly-made mask I wouldn’t bother to ask who made it, let alone fret over whether it was made by a Satanist, an atheist, or a socialist. I’d be grateful that someone–anyone–stepped up and helped out in a time of need. So grow up, media.
But again, ultimately I’m not worried. I’m certain there are even worse times ahead, but we’ll be okay. If action is needed on our part to stave off some disaster I’m sure we’ll receive inspired warning. And if the required action isn’t obvious, we’ll be told what we need to do. And that’s what is missing in much of this negative social media: answers. People criticize what’s being done, but offer no suggestion as to what would work better. People warn of dire machinations, but don’t tell us how to avoid them. Such are useless, and I intend to ignore them.
On the other hand, our church leaders have been advising us for years to build up (not panic and stockpile) a reasonable supply of the essentials against difficulties ahead. While this currently turbulent time has revealed some gaps in our planning, we’ve largely been okay through this. We’ve had enough of everything to be able to hang in there until more has become available.
That storage (and also-recommended savings) also came in very handy ten years ago when the recession was in full swing and I was out of work. It’s a piece of advice that is so widely applicable it doesn’t really need to come with specific warnings as to what exactly is coming. And I’m grateful we’ve largely followed it, even though we have room for improvement.
This latest COVID-19 threat is just one in a long series of events in my life that have shown me that the Lord takes care of those who follow Him and listen to His chosen spokesmen. This weekend our church is holding our semi-annual conference in which those spokesmen address us with more advice and counsel. I look forward to what they have to say, and thanks to the recent reminders, I will hopefully be paying closer attention.