The coronavirus pandemic has been with us in the UK for almost a year now. Earlier in the week I felt really depressed at the lack of ‘normality’ in my life, unable to see friends and family and the prospect of the present lockdown lasting until late spring, then vaccine + for a further two years.
I have put so much of my life on hold waiting for this pandemic to end, from the trivial to the significant. I dislike wearing masks and so decided that I would not go to the hairdressers until I don’t have to wear one again. I have avoided going shopping, when they are open, because of the environment that has been created. I try to avoid interactions with people on zoom because I do not feel comfortable with it. I have not attended church services because the social distancing reinforces the fact that I am alone. I have invested so much hope in the vaccine allowing life to resume to what it was a year ago. But that is just not going to be the case.
Reading a recent blog on the Good Book Company has really challenged me in this respect. I can’t put my life on hold but must adapt and make the best of my circumstances.
‘I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD … ‘plans to give you hope and a future.’ (Jeremiah 29:11)
What does this mean for me today? Firstly, I need to remember that this verse exists in a context. Earlier in verses 5-6 God’s advice to the people was to build houses, plant gardens and eat its produce, marry and have children. Furthermore, this was the advice while the people were in exile, far from home.
The government tells me that I have to stay at home. The Israelites were told they can’t go home. The future they wanted was on hold. They had to get on with their lives and the same is true for me, even when it is not under ideal circumstances.
The author also says that we have to find something other than the future to build our lives out of. God warned his people earlier in v8 not to listen to false prophets who told them the exile would soon be over and their dreams would come true. Rather, God’s plan for them is revealed by the following verses (12-13) that the people would seek him and find him. God’s dream for his people, then and now, is a future with himself for all eternity.
But in the meantime, I am to make the best of the place and situation in which God has placed me. Therefore, I am resolved not to keep checking the BBC news and listening to conspiracy theories or critics. I will rest upon God’s promise that he holds my future in his hands. I will stop waiting for the pandemic to end but instead will get on with my life and adapt, anticipating that I will be living in the midst of this pandemic for the long haul. I will try harder to be present on zoom and connect with people even if I feel uncomfortable with that technology. I will look out for those who are struggling and not be so self-absorbed. I will strive for patience and learn what it means to wait upon the Lord.
(Click here for the Good Book Company article)
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