Sailing Grace

We’re into Day 18 of self quarantine and the reality of this “new normal” is beginning to be more apparent. While certain aspects of our lives have transitioned amazingly well – schools and teachers have adapted classroom instruction to online; churches and worship leaders are posting daily messages of hope; and local businesses have mobilized their full online presence with takeout, delivery and curbside pickup. And most of us are respecting the warnings, maintaining the 6-foot social distancing, and staying home. Yet there are the facets that bring us to brink of despair and shout outright failure. The lack of a prepared, coherent and compassionate response on the federal level is now resulting in panic and loss of lives – shortages or a complete lack of lifesaving supplies available to hospitals; front-line health care professionals experiencing the horror of a catastrophic pandemic without vaccines, supplies or even a viable treatment plan; and fluctuating (and useless) predictions as to when this will end.  I’ve tried to stay fairly neutral in the face of the current chaos within our political system – our own family is divided along party lines, so in order to endure as a loving, intact family unit we’ve a family rule of not talking about religion or politics in our together times. 

However, suddenly these partisan perspectives are gone and our focus has shifted to one of overwhelming solidarity, comfort and resilience. While some of our children have been able to transition to the “work from home” model, our oldest daughter received her furlough notice yesterday and is applying for unemployment today. The ones who are working from home are being asked to work 12 to 14-hour days to put out fires and respond to a whole host of unexpected challenges – all the while providing homeschooling and full care to their children. And all of their well-planned retirement and investment accounts are temporarily shattered with future recovery uncertain. In the midst of this, we are called to simply let go – to be kind, take care of those around us, to act with grace, and know that God continues to have a plan for good in all of our lives. As has been true down through the ages in times of misery, tyranny and disasters, God is our one true Hope.

This week’s photo continues the theme of grace - it seems to be a calming word in these times. “Sailing Grace,” is a 9” x 12” watercolor painting, and it was a joy to paint this scene of two sailors navigating quiet waters on a “red sky at night” sea.