Navigating Upside-Down
We are now into week six of ‘shelter-in-place.’ It feels as if life changed overnight. For the majority of us it went from busy hustle and bustle of deadlines and tight schedules to a forced idle, as if we stalled a car. I’m living in the slow lane with strict warnings to stay in my lane. I should be grateful for more personal time to think, contemplate, read, walk, work and pray. In ordinary times, this time would be wonderful. Instead we are under an umbrella of grief and uncertainty. I find it difficult to accomplish much of anything when everything in the world is askew.
In some ways I find it reminiscent of my unemployment over 17 years ago now, a season that has strangely prepared me for this eerie solitude. Many differences of course -- I wasn’t in quarantine then and I’m not out of work now -- then I had no job to go to and now I can’t go to the job I have. My own personal world was upside down, and now the literal world is upside down.
I’m filling my time with writing this blog, client WebEx meetings, keeping up on emails, and video conference calls with my staff. Work certainly hasn’t stopped, but it has slowed considerably. It has slowed for most of us. Little heads in a matrix on my tablet or iPhone has become my new normal and probably yours too.
Even online church is becoming “normal” in our house. The band with no audience to clap, musicians playing to an empty house. I’d sing along but it totally ruins the song because I can’t hide my voice in the chorus of the congregation. The message is good but with no one to laugh at the semi-funny pastor jokes or say an occasional amen, it feels a bit artificial. Yes, that’s how it feels, artificial. My new artificial existence. People don’t seem real in 2”x 2” squares, or always six feet away wearing a mask. If this weren’t how we are being collectively coached to behave, it would feel like I was about to get robbed everywhere I went…”keep your distance or I’ll shoot, or worse yet, I’ll cough or sneeze on you.”
Social distancing is by far the biggest challenge for me. Sure, technology fills a gap, a big gap thankfully. Imagine having to do this without Zoom, Duo, FaceTime, and the other myriad of apps I’m just now learning about. If this was another time in history, say 1918, and we were dealing with the Spanish flu we would be sheltering in place writing letters to our friends and loved ones and then forced to wait anxiously by our mailboxes for the written word to connect us with someone outside our home. Honestly, the written word was what humanity relied on throughout the vast majority of human existence! Not until Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1438 were words able to be distributed to the masses. Before then every word exchanged on paper or cloth was penned by hand. The telephone wasn’t even invented until 1876. A FaceTime call was inconceivable.
The Jetsons – an old cartoon about a futuristic family - was a favorite of mine growing up. They would FaceTime each other in the 1960’s which was considered a complete fantasy, a technology so inconceivable that it was in a show with flying cars and robot maids. Now we are doing things that even the Jetson family would marvel at (though, I’m still waiting eagerly for flying cars and robot maids).
I’m grateful for the amazing technological advancements and conveniences that assist us and help us solve so many problems, like GPS, weather App, etc. Whenever new challenges arise there seems to be an App for that! And yet one virus has undone us. Our advanced tech is now serving to reveal just how frail and vulnerable humanity really is, and not just in war-torn zones, or developing countries with depressed economies. No, every one of us is vulnerable to this virus. No one is immune, even the privileged and uber wealthy can’t buy their way to safety. Many who felt invincible are now fearful, even in their own homes. COVID-19 is an equalizer. We can only do our best to avoid contracting the virus through distancing ourselves from others, which has now become such a familiar phase, “social distancing.” It seems like it should be anti-social distancing, doesn’t it?
I feel like the world has been put into a time machine and been thrust back to the time when the world frequently dealt with pandemics, when people died across the globe because there was no vaccine. A time when healthcare workers on the front-lines were needlessly exposed because they had inadequate protection. A time when there was not enough medical equipment to go around. This sounds like a script to a far-fetched sci-fi movie, doesn’t it?
It’s fascinating to experience weakness against our usual guise of strength. I wonder; is this underlying even when things are stable or seemingly stable? Consider this statement by James the brother of Jesus…”What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes”(James 4:14b). The Bible is full of reminders of the brevity of life. So if life really is short, perhaps we shouldn’t get so shaken? Perhaps we should go about our days thankful for each day, investing in each day and be surprised when we wake up to a new day. Perhaps COVID-19, while clearly negative on so many levels can remind us that life is short, not guaranteed beyond each new day, and intended for so much more than living for just ourselves.
Does this mean we shouldn’t plan for the future, and just sit in our room until Jesus returns? Of course not! James is a good guide here as well. In James 4:13 he speaks about planning in our businesses and making money (good things to do) but then reminds us that none of us really know what will happen tomorrow (that really rings true right now). He informs us of what we ought to say; ”If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that” (James 4:15). I love that. Go ahead and plan, be mindful, and intentional about the future but don’t run ahead of God. Bring him into your planning, and plan with open hands -- “Lord if it’s your will, then let my plans happen, but if it’s not, that’s cool too.” When I was sitting in my living room 17 years ago, I drew up a plan to launch my own business. I came dangerously close to failure in those first few years, but by God’s grace I made it through. And by God’s grace we will make it through COVID-19 as well, as long as I don’t run ahead of him or forget that his will is ultimately what counts.