At What Cost: A Reflection for 10/28/20
Seven
months, 33 weeks, 229 days, 5,486 hours, 329,218 minutes, 19,753,096+
seconds…..That’s how long has been since March 13th, 2020.
Take that into consideration for just a few more additional seconds as the
clock continues to tick. While you are doing that, take into
consideration any other year in your life where you can almost number the days
spanning over a 7 month period where so much has changed yet nothing really has
changed at all. I am not sure that I can.
Over
the past seven months I have sat in too many meetings to count; I have slept
too little hours to care and I have watched many who I care about go through
multiple emotional roller coasters to last two lifetimes. We have watched
everything that we accepted as normal and took for granted for so long be
pulled from us. Our schools, our churches, our sports, our jobs, our
safety and security, and our peace all removed without any clear end in
sight. We have been told to be brave while still considering our own fear
and uncertainty. Many of us have been asked to plan without
direction. We have done these things, “soldiered on” through the turmoil
and uncertainty which is our world at all levels and we have done so because
any alternative seems yet even more difficult to comprehend than our current
reality does. I was told merely what seems like eternal three months ago
to “just keep showing up”. It’s not that I disagree, but at what cost.
What is going to be left when it’s all said and done?
I
don’t say these things to add to any negativity. I don’t bring up these
issues to suggest the idea that all is lost no more than I would suggest that
the end is in sight. I say this because it’s true and sometimes the truth
sucks. The statistics I have become more concerned about these days are
the ones that aren’t being reported on a seemingly hourly basis. I’m
worried about our children, my children. I’m worried about our leaders
and the decisions, more so the motivation behind, the decisions they are
making. I’m worried about our schools and churches. I’m worried
about our economy. I’m worried about our mental health. I, like
many of you, worry about the same things but most of all, I worry about what
our lives are going to look like when it is all over. Concern without
answer/direction equals fear; and when we have no answers, no explanation what
left do we have to do but pray.
Today’s
Gospel follows Jesus, yet again, as He quietly slips off to talk with His
Father. My grandfather once told me that God will never give you more
than you can handle however, there will often be times that you wish He didn’t
think you can handle so much. I would suggest that the unprecedented
events covering the past 7 months would certainly qualify. I have always
been a man of prayer, but never so much as I have been through all this.
I find myself praying, at times out loud, seemingly throughout the day; in the
cafeteria, on a morning run, in the car at the dinner table.. If nothing
else, I have found myself living the behavior Jesus modeled for us during His
documented alone times with His Father. Perhaps that is the cost.
The exchange for the past 7 months of uncertainty is the Peace I receive from
my alone times with my Heavenly Father. If in fact this is true, it is a
cost I am willing to continue to pay.
“Thank
you God for our blessings in the midst of our trials.”
Jason C. Swann – Principal