So How Does This Pandemic Feel Now?

What a difference a day makes ... Not to mention about 90 days in the year 2020. The last time I actually wrote a blog post, it was early March. We were contemplating a "spring forward" one hour and trying to help our Nashville neighbors through the storm that hit our city in the wee hours of March 3.

Since then, our lives have been turned upside down along with the sense of normalcy in our world. The novel coronavirus came into our world in a week that had a Friday the 13th in it, and a mass shutdown of society followed it. Some said it would be a "new normal" and that the lives we know would change forever. Many lost all sense of purpose and drive in their lives. Some were afraid to leave their homes. Some were afraid to even shake hands with anyone.

"Social distancing" has now become a buzzword and is a part of our lives for the immediate foreseeable future. We learned to appreciate and love healthcare workers while sometimes disagreeing with the length and extent of the lockdowns and rules they said were there to protect us and to keep us safe. Let's not begin to talk about Trump, Pence, Birx, Fauci, and others who led us nationally and doctors Piercey at the state level and Jahangir at the Nashville level. 

So how do you feel now? We know this situation isn't over, and some say it will surge again in the fall of this year. But if you take a look at the big picture and see how your life has changed, you may realize that it never was "normal" to begin with. Life is ever changing and ever challenging. Today - the novel coronavirus. Tomorrow - something else. But if you have God and follow his lead in your life, everything quickly falls into perspective. 

From the standpoint of a mere observer, this situation is fascinating as much as it is aggravating. I find myself waiting with anticipation each morning to see how Nashville is faring in its quest to keep the number of cases down and the number of available hospital beds up. In the afternoon, it's the Tennessee Department of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that captivate my attention as they process the days numbers and the scoreboard in the battle to save lives.

At the end of the day, if you can figure out a way to survive this time of our lives, you will come out better, stronger, and wiser in the end. We want happiness in life, and we want it now. But the words of Ecclesiastes ring true in this time and, really, in any time:  

"That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil - this is the gift of God. I know everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it."

I am thankful during this time for all of our leaders and especially this week for Mayor John Cooper, Dr. Alex Jahangir, and Dr. James Hildreth. 

May God bless all of our leaders and you, too.

Here is a glimpse of life at Kid Rock's Big Honky Tonk, downtown Nashville:

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