When Lent began 7+ weeks ago, I had a 5 point plan to become “Just Kinder.”
1. Eat a vegetarian diet (Be Kind to the Environment)
2. Avoid single use plastics (Be Kind to the Environment)
3. Use more public transportation (Be Kind to the Environment + mix with people in need)
4. Interact more directly with people in need (Be helpful to those in need)
5. Continue to prune more stuff from my home (Live Lightly by sharing my stuff)
Covid-19 was far away in China in January and the first US death didn’t occur till the end of February. As Lent began the coronavirus began to change life in the US – but not mine. It wasn’t till mid-March that closures and physical social distancing started changing my daily life. Now Lent and Covid-19 have become intermingled. Meetings and religious services went on-line. My Lenten plans of using public transportation (#3) and direct interaction with people in need (#4) dropped out of my plan.
So what did I learn and how did it change me?
A. Who am I? – What am I worth? I admit that my self-regard is closely tied to being competent and achieving goals. Letting go of my Lenten plan challenged my concept of who I was. Privileged? Important? Worthy?
B. Who is in Control? – If I am not in control what is life all about anyway? (Who remembers Alfie?) This led to reflecting about Death, Who is God? Is there an afterlife?, Family. and Time (because my watch battery died and I didn’t know if I should to go to a store to get a new one.)
C. LOVE – The answer that kept coming was LOVE. How can the love that is in me continue after my death?
So What? – So what do I do now? After probing the above theological concepts, I still needed to put my love into action but had to rethink the plan I had carefully developed.
- Yes I could still basically eat a vegetarian diet and avoid single use plastics.
- Using more public transportation and tutoring at the inner city school would be delayed. I volunteered to be a “car hop” for a neighborhood free food distribution center, but they haven’t called me to work yet.
I could continue to prune household stuff and did. Through the Nextdoor on-line group I found Del Shawn who picked up some remaining give-aways including some clothes, a TV antenna, and baskets. Since she was connected with a small community church, I also gave her 6 Bibles. (If you are wondering why anyone would have 6 extra Bibles, some were children’s Bibles, some were different translations, and some were devotional books.
Three Final Questions:
1. How has the coronavirus changed your life? What have you learned?
2. If you don’t need the $1,200 relief check that the US government is sending out for daily necessities, who (or what cause) will you give it to?
3. What is a daily necessity?
