Hope

The world is experiencing a crisis that is unprecedented, perplexing, and down-right scary! Coronavirus-COVID 19 has undoubtedly disrupted our lives physically, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, and socially. Were you familiar with the term social distancing before March of 2020? Did you ever imagine that your son or daughter would not participate in their prom or graduation ceremony? Moreover, did you ever imagine that your state governor would mandate the closing of all non-essential businesses? I do not even believe the most anointed profit or gifted psychic could have foreseen how life would look today.

Yet, I believe there is hope. Hope for the senior citizen who can not attend their weekly exercise class. Hope for the patient who has to discuss their current medical status via telemedicine. Hope for the small business owner who had to temporarily close their business. And, yes there is hope for the graduating senior who will not participate in prom or graduation.

Hope is defined as, “a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.” Hope is also defined as, “a feeling of trust.” For those who have faith, many of us have been forced to rely on God in ways that make us vulnerable. The busyness of life and managing daily life responsibilities often distract us from communing with God the way our heart desires. However, the seriousness and severity of Coronavirus-COVID 19 has required us to stop and have some very intimate talks with God. Moreover, we are listening, we are waiting, and we are hoping for His positive response.

While we are listening, waiting, and hoping, in what feels like a season of things surrounding us that we cannot control, there are things we can still do through a mandatory stay at home order and social distancing to maintain self-control, as well as, hope:

Daily Devotionals or Guided Journaling

Look through your bookshelf, coffee table, or nightstand and dust off a devotional or guided journal. Create a schedule to include when and how much time you will set aside for completing daily devotionals and journaling exercises. The good news is that you can also conduct a simple Google search if you need daily devotional or guided journal exercises.

Exercise

Dust off your old treadmill, free weights, old DVD workout tapes and start with 30 minutes of exercise each day. If you are comfortable, go for a brisk walk in your community while maintaining social distancing. Another option is the plethora of work out routines that are available on youtube and apps.

Serve

If you have friends or families who have children who are still in school at any level (elementary, middle school, high school, college, or graduate school) focus on an area of expertise for yourself—contact them and offer weekly tutoring sessions via phone or zoom.

Set Long Term Goals

Take time to evaluate what you hope for following the end of Coronvirus-COVID-19. What are your personal goals, financial goals, professional goals? What do you want to accomplish when life returns to normal?

While life is difficult today and tomorrow looks bleak—together we will get through this. I am praying for each of you daily and I am hopeful for our future!