While there's much that I lament having lost (like relating to family and friends in person and being able to attend our church gatherings and worshipping with fellow believers, and worst of all knowing there are many losing their earthly lives), I've also gained much as well. For me, it's been a new perspective on cultivating relationships, an increased awareness of the importance of being with our church family that outweighs the desire to sleep in on Sunday mornings, a new appreciation for the freedoms I typically enjoy (and probably take for granted) to come and go when and where we wish. Yet, staying at home 99% of the time has helped me view my home as a haven of rest from the encroaching coronavirus.
I've also been made more aware of the responsibility I have to care about the well-being of fellow travelers through this time of uncertainty. I've social distanced, and I've made the face masks. I've been out to wear one only once, and I'll admit that it was quite bothersome to wear, and I took it off at first opportunity. But the understanding that it's for the greater good outweighs my own inclination toward my own comfort.
The bottom line for me is that I know God works all things (that includes the bad things) together for good, for those who love Him, according to His own purpose. What that purpose might be for me personally I don't know. I don't doubt, though, that I will eventually know, either here in my earthly home or there in my heavenly home. Either way, God says He's working it together for good. That's a change I can look forward to.
And so I trust the Father and walk by His Spirit. I pray that in the changes surrounding all of us that we will also be changed within, that the changes will be an agent, perhaps the crucible, for our personal transformation into greater conformity to the image of Christ. Yet, that is only for those who love God and are called by Him for His purpose. I hope, dear one, that you are one of us.
Image~ Pixabay.com
