Pen-demic

To worry about the future, "How long can we stay in our 2 -story house?" lessens satisfaction and joy today. To worry about the future, "what will happen if I get sick?" paralyzes me from living life today. To worry about the future, "what if we have to isolate for a year?"  challenges my faith that God knows the way. We have had many challenges—brain injury, heart infection, cancer, pain. When the challenges tried to bury me, I knew what to do. Standing eye to eye, I have confronted life’s obstacles; I have made compromises. “You can slow me down, you can block my way,   I must live my life . . ..with God’s grace and guidance. . ..  One day at a time.”

Archie Bunker  :  The Lord God created me in his image. Michael 'Meathead' Stivic  :  You mean God looks like you? Archie Bunker  :  I ain't sayin' you couldn't tell the two of us apart. Archie Bunker  :  Every picture I've seen of God, he's white. Henry Jefferson  :  Well, maybe you were looking at the negative! [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0509934/characters/nm0005279] Politicians need to have more respect for their Bibles.  They are more than  tools of the trade. The theological discourse of Ohio State Representative Nino Vitale (below) brings to mind Archie Bunker's theology, quoted above.  The belief that humankind was created in the image of God was invoked by the legislator to defend his not wearing a mask to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. He posted on Facebook: This is not the entire world. This is the greatest nation on earth founded on Judeo-Christian Principles. One of those principles...

Watching the children next door      chasing their new puppy around the yard every day. Memes on facebook:      “ . . .here I am laying on the couch, being a hero”. A wave from the Rich and Charlie's delivery man       as I pick up dinner on the door step. Leisurely reading a library book         with no due date in sight. Loved ones thinking of us        with unexpected notes and treats in the mail. Saying “YES” to a chocolate chip cookie        on my Panera delivery order. A snake, guitar strumming, snapchat faces:       Zooming with teen-age grandchildren. Video collage of of church members       waving anything green on Palm Sunday Processional. Calling the shut-ins and hearing Martin’s excitement      that his grandson would play football with Tampa Bay. Rachel’s banner  on the front ...

By Doris Martin You would think that I have plenty of time to do so much now that I am staying home and staying safe. “Seniors” (I still can’t wrap my head around that term as if it didn’t pertain to me) are supposed to be careful with this monster looming outside our windows. So, I’d better get down to business! First of all, I now should have time to finish the book I’m writing about my Swedish grandparents. Actually, plenty of time to get it printed for my family by Christmas. I thought the days would go slowly for me but it’s quite the opposite. It seems now that as soon as I finish breakfast, instead of starting to write the 1,000 words a day suggested by many authors, I am thinking about what I can make for lunch and then dinner. We were used to eating very healthy meals making fresh fish three times a week with chicken or pork tenderloin on the other two nights and “whatever” on the seventh night. Now, since my daughter is busy working from home, she insists on doin...

SARS. COVID-19. Vivianna’s life right now is bookended by these deadly diseases. 2003 was the year she joined our family. 2020 is her senior year in high school. Both events should be happy ones, filled with preparation and celebration. Yet, doubt and lack of control clouded her adoption process and now overshadows her senior year. In the spring of 2003 John and I anxiously awaited news of the baby in China who would be our daughter. We had waited a year and were expecting to be “next in line” to get the paperwork telling us we were “matched” with a baby girl. I wrote daily in a journal about our wait and throughout March and April the worry about SARS in China dominated my thoughts. I held off writing about SARS because I prayed it would soon go away. On April 25, 2003, I wrote about my fears. “This is supposed to be a time of joyous anticipation and excitement for us, but it has become clouded by uncertainty and fear. Please let us be able to travel to get our daughter!” The...

It’s called “the new normal”. Life as we knew it has changed. We don’t know how long this will last. It may keep coming on in waves until we get a vaccine for it or something to eradicate it if it is contracted. The Covid-19 corona virus has hit and we are now in the midst of it. I heard we haven’t even peaked yet, but that may come in two weeks. People have been laid off in droves, all trips cancelled, no social gatherings allowed. We are told to wear masks and gloves if we have to go out, especially to shop for groceries. Distancing of 6 feet between people is being asked, as well as only to go out if absolutely necessary as for prescriptions and food. Most retail stores that don’t have these are closed. It is really hurting the small business owners. Restaurants are open for take-out only. Some people are afraid of this and subsequently most restaurants are barely hanging on. Rob and I moved to Chesterfield on March 10th, two days before this was called a pandemic. We were...

My skin is warm from the sun's glare through my car window. The temperature is rising, dare I say, it's hot? The air will feel good rushing through my hair, making it dance as I drive down the highway. Hesitation. What else will an open window invite besides the wind? I try to relax. Reason that all will be well and yet, the question lingers. To find relief being part of the sun and wind or close up where isolation may keep me safe, but without a filled spirit. -Nikki Douglas Photo by  Makenna Entrikin  on  Unsplash

by Judy Richardson April 7, 2020 I am blessed but life is NOT the same. I want to attend Choir practice, attend St Mark, serve Communion, attend our book club meetings, attend Deacon meetings, attend Rachel Circle, go to Writers Life, potluck dinners, walk with friends, hug my daughter and her family. And I can’t do any of these things. Just because of a little microscopic organism which has hitchhiked its way around the whole world. Pandemic. We are learning. On-line buying is about the only way we can buy goods that aren’t groceries . If I want restaurant food, I have to order online or call the order in and pick it up. Mostly it is a little cold by the time I get it home. Ugh! I have decided to discontinue physical therapy for my shoulder. It is necessary for me to be in physical contact with my therapist and I am not the only one using the equipment. I will also not be seeing my chiropractor this week. Should I stay home? Maybe, maybe not, but I am most concerned about a ...

Tuesday, March 24, 2020 Pandemonium and the World Photo by  Justin Main  on  Unsplash It’s 4 am and I can’t sleep, my mind swirls around the pandemonium that is going on with the  COVID 19 virus.  At the same time, I feel “insulated” in my “safe little world”. I shop for groceries every 2-3 months at the Scott Air Force Base Commissary. Having gone about a month ago, I am in no fear of running out of staples. My husband, Mike, is recently retired and no longer takes the long trek from the Forest Park MetroLink station to Scott twice a day.  As a Realtor, while some things (like showing homes) has to be done in person, a lot of what I do can be safely done from my home office, like negotiating contracts and building inspections which can be done via phone calls, texts, emails and electronic signatures,  I know I am among the fortunate ones. While I’m in the over 65 age bracket that is deemed more vulnerable, Mike and I are in reasonab...

Wednesday, April 8, 2020 The secular view of Easter Sunday is  families dressing up and looking good in church. The spiritual view is God’s  vindication and resurrection of a guiltless man who suffered at the hands of angry mobs, politicians, and even his own friends. Before Easter we remember our complicity in the Crucifixion, and following this realization, our redemption and freedom in the Resurrection. If we consider Easter Sunday merely a target day for reducing social distancing, the significance of Jesus’ persecution and sacrifice is lost.  If we think of Lent as the countdown to re-employment, we have turned God’s most dramatic intervention in human history into a celebration for the Stock Market on Easter Monday. We have already lost the “Christmas season” to commercial interests, because the sales leading up to Christmas have become the most important theme of Advent. Waiting for the coming of Christ does not get much play in the media. Easter shoul...

The nation’s response to the Coronavirus has us all rethinking what our lives are about. Do we have to go to gyms to exercise? Can I stay in touch with friends without being near them? Can there ever be too much toilet paper and frozen pizza in the house? Can I get the same uplifting message from online church? Will life go back to what it was before the Coronavirus was in America? Not likely. Any event that is as far reaching to all aspects of our lives will change us. But we go forward just like those before us did in uncertain times. Our spiritual lives have changed, how we worship and congregate. There may be a plus side to our virtual church. There are people that may be searching for deeper meaning in their lives. The world in crazy mode has that effect. But, those same people might be reluctant to go inside a building filled with strangers who may or may not look like them. It is all too much bother to figure when to stand and shake hands(pre-March 2020 referenc...

Last night at Writer's Life, a group at our church, John shared a story about a special tree in his yard which had me thinking about some of my trees---especially the redbud and dogwood trees.  I have spent good money buying redbud and dogwood trees even though they are native to Missouri.  I have been lured by the the red leaves and pink blossoms of the cultivated trees, but those trees died. I, now have a yard full of dogwoods and redbuds which I never planted---they are "God-planted" trees.  One of the dogwoods, in my front is about 36" from where I planted one of my store-bought trees.  Another dogwood is right outside our sunroom and is  framed by Dave's window.  It forms a beautiful screen between us and our neighbor.  My last dogwood, I call "bonsai"---it is way too close to our house and drive-way, but I love seeing it there, so I keep cutting it back. We have always had a redbud on our backyard berm---our current one was so ov...