Prescription for a Pandemic
*Cue dramatic music*
Do you remember that time so long ago, the time when we bought all the toilet paper? The time we cooked food in our own home? The time we got to know our spouses and children all over again? The time we watched every last show on Netflix and ran out of shows? That time. So very long ago and faint in our memories.
*Fade to black
I don’t know about you, but it seems ages ago because I’ve blocked most of it from memory. There is so much fear involved in so many ways for so many people. Panic. Loss. So where is the joy in all of this? Does joy exist in the midst of a pandemic? Can it?
WE CAN STILL FIND JOY.
Seriously. We can still find joy. Don’t believe me? Think hard about your time in isolation. Aren’t there glimmers of joy? Even if it is finding a new show on Netflix. Or knowing that you are doing all the right things to help flatten the infamous curve. Or the joy of finding a pack of toilet paper at the store in the nick of time. Those tiny things bring you bits of joy.
First, let’s ask why. Why is joy important? Why do we reach for it? Not a temporary feeling of happiness, but a deep wellspring of joy? I don’t know about you, but bitterness and feeling crushed and deflated doesn’t work for me long term. Shoot, even a blank space, low level depression, doesn’t do it for me. I need more. I need joy. As the proverbs say:
“A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.”
This means so much to me. I have cancer. Let’s all say it together in our best Jan Brady voice – cancer, cancer, cancer! Yeah, I’m tired of hearing about it. That low level of depression? It settles in some days. Dries up the bones. So I’m grateful for joy more than ever before. It’s that important. In my fight for my life. In the midst of a pandemic.
How do we find joy? I can only speak for myself. A large part is choosing joy versus choosing anger or stress. Yes, thoughts and experiences assault me. I give in to things like sorrow and anger and depression. I can’t stop real life emotions from hitting. And I choose not to pretend that they don’t. But once they surface - be it the news of a friend contracting the virus, or a grown child losing their job because of the shut down - I acknowledge the legitimate response to life and its troubles. I feel it. I cry or rage.
And then? I choose not to marinate in ugly places. I choose joy. Yes, I can do that. And yes, you can do that. The fruit of the spirit (the spirit of God, which is a gift to everyone who confesses their wrongdoings and believes that Jesus is the Son of God, who also takes away those wrongdoings) is love, joy and peace.
Fruit grows on trees. It doesn’t pop up overnight. The tree grows. It flowers. The leaves grow. The fruit grows over time, with watering and exposure to sunlight. And with the help of the farmer (the spirit), who fertilizes and keeps the bugs and predators (ongoing anger or depression, or whatever eats your joy) away.
That’s my analogy for the day, and my prescription for a pandemic. Find joy. Search hard. Be grateful. Gratitude leads to joy. Drop a comment here and we’ll chat. I’m a fellow struggler, but together we can find joy, even in the worst of times.
Until I write again …
Flea