Lessons of Covid-19

Remember How to Live

“I’d like to learn, or remember, how to live.”

Annie Dillard

          One of the outcomes of being shut down for several months is the reassessment of values. Every time we experience a natural disaster here, tornadoes are our particular favorite, we see people picking through the debris of what once was their home looking for anything they can salvage. What they invariably say is, “Family photos, our wedding pictures, the locket my grandmother gave me…” The other thing said is, “We’re just grateful to be alive.” They have discovered in a whirlwind what truly matters to them. Covid-19 provides us that same clarity.

          Have you noticed the change in commercials on TV—instead of the hard-sell routine, we’re seeing videos of families playing together, of mama’s with babies on their shoulders sitting in front of a computer, of daddies playing in the sprinkler with the kids or cooking up dinner. Working from home is no picnic when you have little ones, but people are discovering that they can do it. The pandemic has taken us back to simpler times. It is almost like we are reliving a scene from Little House on the Prairie where everyone is pulling together and doing their chores. Sweet nostalgia. I’m not naïve enough to think that scene is happening in every household, but this seems to be a time of gathering, of reassessing, of reclamation.

          Perhaps, through no fault or action of our own, we are remembering how to live. Perhaps we are getting to experience life without all the razzle-dazzle and speed. Maybe the meaning to be found in this terrible time in our history is that our values have been skewed for a long time and are overdue for a correction. Life has provided the correction in a painful form, full of loss, but with crystal clarity.

          I truly pray that we learn the lessons of Covid-19 so that we don’t have to go through this again. We are hard-headed animals, full of false pride, but we’re also trainable. We can look around us and see where the corrections must be made, and once we commit ourselves to making them, we will feel prosperous again. We will have a different definition for prosperity than we’ve had before. Perhaps it won’t be at the expense of others because more of us will be gathered into the fold of God’s grace. Perhaps, we won’t even need another natural disaster to show us the way, because now we know what truly matters. Let’s not forget again.

                                                  In the Spirit,

                                                  Jane