Both humor and angst are going viral on the interwebs. With no other place to express either our cleverness or our fear, it doesn’t surprise me. Of course, for some the two are wrapped around each other. We put up and seek out humor during these strange days because if we don’t laugh we’ll cry.
A fair amount of the humor I’ve seen touches on the impact of the Coronavirus on writers, podcasters, bloggers, editors, and, last but not least, introverts and how this strange new world is a lot like the old world. I fit every one of those categories. I’m home working, like I was two weeks ago. My professor gig has moved online, so that’s a change, but it’s a small one- the gig and the change. Social distancing is right up my alley.
Such, however, doesn’t mean that it’s good for me. The constant calls to keep our distance from one another may just be the most spiritually dangerous element carried along with Corona. Will we be able to look back on these days as a time when hardship drew us together, or will we look back with shame, finding we’re no better than dog eating dogs? We all, from a few Typhoid Marys willfully spreading the virus, to those who cynically affirm their lack of concern because the disease disproportionately kills the elderly, to those who simply look at other people as dangers, have work to do. We have an illness to fight- sin.
I am in that last category. There is a thin line, perhaps a dotted line, perhaps an imaginary line that runs between introversion and misanthropy, between fearing others and not liking them. I’m quite capable of being vulnerable in my professional roles- as a writer and a speaker. That, however, is public me, safe behind a laptop or a podium. Public me is happy to open a vein and bleed. Private me just wants to be left alone. Which is not what is good for me. Which is why God has blessed me with my wife Lisa.
I no longer want to be alone. I’m now able to be alone with others, so long as she is there beside me. With her, by God’s grace, I don’t feel afraid, but safe. It is not, however, in the end, her that makes me safe, but Him. She is God’s instrument, God’s empowered gift. She is the light in my day, because His light shines through her. She is my rock because together we stand, and we build, on the Rock.
Our calling, together, is not to hunker down, but to reach out. For we have the one thing that solves our fears- the love of the Father. Whether we are afraid of illness and death, or togetherness and life, we know we are safe when we know He died to make us well, and we will live together with Him forever. The Coronavirus will not break our hearts. It may well reveal that they are broken. Let us run to the Healer, and tell others where they can find Him. You’ll find me there, holding Lisa’s hand.