The craziness that has resulted because of the COVID crisis manifests itself as impatience with the circumstances with which we are surrounded.
The same elements of grief manifestation in the losses we experience in this life are being experienced by all of us.
We are experiencing depression with the losses we have had with connections, habits and traditions; we are experiencing guilt over what we missed, and opportunities lost; we are experiencing anger over what we consider an unfair situation and a great big interruption to our lives and fear of the future; we are experiencing bargaining, a loneliness, over wanting things to return to the way they were.
We miss our past and the way things were before the pandemic, and of course, there is a lazy acceptance. We are slowly accepting the “new normal” of our lives with the things that have changed and will not return to what they were. Perhaps the Serenity prayer is no more significant than it can be in these days:
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; taking, as Jesus did, the sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him Forever in the next.
Amen.
Reinhold Niebuhr
