Just thirteen months ago, who could have imagined the things Canadians are experiencing right now? Undone by a microscopic enemy, we scarcely recognize ourselves as the indomitable Western society that so confidently entered 2020.
I have shopped in person only rarely since COVID restrictions began. But the other day my daughter and I donned masks and went to a thrift store. As she searched for something in another area, I sorted through a rack in the ladies clothing department.
Sliding hangers one by one down the rod, my hand stopped suddenly at a black velvet dinner jacket with sequins and exquisite embroidery. Fingering the luxurious fabric produced an unexpected reaction鈥攁 lump in my throat and a stinging behind my eyes.
I rarely enter situations emotions first. My reaction shocked me. I鈥檇 never even owned such a garment. Puzzled, I stood wondering. Then, understanding. The jacket reminded me of gatherings lost to the pandemic. Events until quite recently taken for granted in a privileged society and places where one may have worn such a garment. Church. Weddings. Funerals. Musical concerts and theatre productions. Standing and sitting, even acting, shoulder to shoulder with friends and strangers. People having emotions in public, faces uncovered.
It also brought back dress-up parties attended with my grandchildren. Once their mother and the girls presented me with a costume item from that very store; a formal black dress with sequins. I wore it during an impromptu family concert in our living room. These days that room is mostly silent; visitors discouraged by pandemic guidelines. The grandbeans come over for childcare sometimes (eldercare, really) or to help with a task we can鈥檛 manage alone. Sunshine returns with them. We do the chicken dance. Bake treats. Make stuff. Play games. Without even trying, they banish the disabling loneliness that too often snakes under the door. Even Cash and GraceCat get excited.
Everyone wants answers. So do I. Someone to tell us that this will all be over by summer. Or winter. Just a date, please. There are none. And no way to bring back the people, the memories, the seasons, the experiences we鈥檝e lost. No assurances from government. And no eraser vast enough to obliterate the fear in the voices that surround us.
听
Author and pastor Erwin Lutzer, in his remarkable book, 鈥淧andemics, Plagues and other Natural Disasters: What is God saying to us?鈥� notes that God always has his reasons for everything he allows to touch his creation. He also writes that what God allows, he could also disallow. That he has chosen not to remove the virus should tell us something.
Canada is experiencing only a fragment of what is largely the norm for millions of less fortunate people in developing countries. God is allowing our rich society the opportunity to learn the hard lessons humility teaches. I pray we learn especially these: that true joy and inner peace come only when we humbly lean on what no circumstance or government can remove鈥攖he certainty of God鈥檚 sovereignty, the inevitability of God鈥檚 justice, the vastness of God鈥檚 love and the sweet mercy of God鈥檚 hope.
