Disclaimer: I’ve tried to not bother writing much about politics or the pandemic. It seems we have all settled into our camps of opinion. The Fox News camp, the CNN camp, the Facebook FactCheckers, the militia, the students of alternative medicine. …. And we all gather information to support our opinion. So this is not so much about COVID (or politics in general) as it is about how I see God working in little ways, caring for little details of my life.
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I’ve been thinking during this “pandemic,” this time of “unprecedented turmoil” (oh, how I tire of the word unprecedented), of the things for which I never knew I would be thankful.
Once I considered dating a guy who was a theological student and wanted to be a missionary. Like most of us on the Generation X/Millennial line, he was adept in acquiring electronic information. I bet he would want me to wear a mask and social distance.
When Seth and I were dating, we thought we would live in Cortez. I don’t know what that would have been, but I know I would have had to find a new circle of friends and lean on only a little bit of family. And I know without the ranch, my girls and I would have had to “live” much more publicly. I have a friend who lives near town and has been truly isolated during this time, for her friends were all scared to gather.
For a while, I wished we were close enough to attend this church or that, churches I knew preached the gospel and loved people. And now - some because of conviction, some for population’s sake, some by pressure of location, these churches have complied with the governor’s orders.
And I’m thankful that these things are not.
I know many of you will disagree with me. The “pandemic” is not a gospel issue. Yes, there are Biblical principals to apply, but how they are applied and which are primary really depend on cultural issues. Where do you get your news? How do you view alternative opinions in medicine? How important is the Constitution and what do view as the government’s role? How do you determine truth in current events? How do you look at history? Every answer is like a turn in a maze, the center of which becomes the Christian conclusion of a politicized dilemma, leaving with much more a question of culture than of godliness.
But I’m thankful that God has yoked me with a common culture. Although I thought he was a bit too political when I married him (:-), I’m now so thankful for a husband who isn’t afraid to read and dissect the news and beyond, one who encouraged me to abandon Facebook (even though I miss your updates and the pictures of your kids).
I’m thankful that I live - and I mean really live, every day - where I don’t have to go out in “public.” I don’t have to face the controversy. I’m thankful for the network of people around me who realize that neither news nor politicians are bound to the truth. I’m thankful for aunts (uncles, and cousins!) on my mom’s side who study health and history voraciously, finding facts. I’m thankful for uncles, aunts and cousins on my Dad’s side who would rather live in Constitutional liberty - to really live and do and care about people - than to exist only electronically. I’m thankful for my parents and in-laws, for friends and neighbors, who see death as fact and life as fragile every day, with or without a virus.
I’m thankful for my church, a church where the gospel is paramount and the Word is preached. A church where liberty is valued as a gift of God and standing for it is an act of love. A church of practicality, who strive to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.
Jesus said persecution is coming. The epistles say we need to be a sweet savor of the gospel, yet a peculiar people. We know truth will not be popular. And we know we will not be popular. As those times come, by God’s grace, may I continue to be thankful.
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