EVERYDAY ALTARS, CROSSES & COMPASSES (during COVID-19)

This COVID-19, like most disease or illness, is shamelessly apathetic
There is no one it will not touch
It is indifferent to race, age, gender and geography
It separates, divides and detaches
It robs families of proper good-byes and funerals
even healing touch is not outside of its stoic capacity to annul.

As usual, the most vulnerable, are targets
the virus is heartless as regards suffering of all kinds
It targets the weak, the elderly, those already ill and
those in compromised, miserable living situations.
It is not put off by war zones or refugee camps
It ruptures trust between government and its people,
between industries and countries
between neighbors and families and cities.
It delights in distancing people socially and geographically,
People are stuck at home or away from home or somewhere in between.

Its power to close is monumental
places that have never been closed a day have been forced to retreat behind closed doors.
Services and pleasantries that are adjacent, convenient, neighborly
stand closed in quiet defeat while the virus mocks
The surge in sudden medical needs have rocked the hospitals & clinics
obliging them to spread out into hotels and tents and industrial parks
The long waits for masks, alcohol, respiratory machines & quick tests
are interminable and for many the wait is too long and too late.

The virus has not only spread geographically
but it has usurped the press, people´s conversations, the internet, our thoughts
It pushes its way into parks and patios and parking lots
It considers itself popular and flaunts itself immodestly through every cable and fiberoptic point.

It is unmoved by "normal," ongoing pain.
People are still grieving leukemia, miscarriages, car accidents, divorces and domestic violence...
(to name a very few)
Heaped upon it is the burdening sadness of COVID-19´s violent attacks,
Its indiscriminate seizing of lovely people.
It is especially ugly among the defenseless & in areas already scarred
by war & poverty & complex displacement.

BUT -

It is as yet unaware of the upsurge of goodness in the face of selfishness
It is not acquainted with the god-like efforts of caregivers & medical personnel
It is so self-focused that it is blind to the heroic creativity of parents in small apartments
of the super powers of little ones in their imaginations against this great beast
It is veiled from noticing the undying concern of educators for their students´ good
It is masked from the power of the unity of applause at 8 pm.
It is deaf and dumb in the presence of songs & art, poetry & homemade crafts
All created (albeit innocently) for its very destruction.

People are reflecting about their lives, even making changes
Journals are filling and tears are streaming
Families are conversing, couples are snuggling, teens are coming out of their bedrooms
Yes, it is true that the imposed closeness is stirring up things from dark places, too.
Grief, depression, irritability, impatience, lack of discipline, past hurts
But there is time now to take a second look, to pull back from a reaction
to ask for or to extend forgiveness
And it is making us tenacious, resilient & steady -
All those who choose to be.

There are thousands of variations of challenges for different ones
But there is also opportunity
There is a myriad of tests & trials & valleys for all
But there are also crossroads for any who are willing to change course
Simple everyday things are transformed into altars, crosses, compasses, stars & sacred encounters
God is speaking and people are listening
God is moving and people are making room
God is healing and people are receiving
God is present and people are being transformed.

This virus will fall into its own apathetic trap
and its evil will be crushed in regret.
Those who are willing to believe
in everyday altars, crosses, compasses, stars & sacred encounters
will triumph in spite of death tolls, for death has no sting to them.






Photo by: Bhailey Resident