Isn’t there plenty of anxiety right now with the pandemic? Even if we are not involved in the hysteria, it is looming in the air around the globe. Why can’t we just simply use a little kindness to combat it?
Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up.
~ Proverbs 12:25 NIV
These last few weeks since the pandemic started, I noticed that I have had unusual moments of fear, sort of. This is so much not like me that I had to take a closer look.
What is the source? Logically last week, I assumed it was the pandemic. This week after looking closer at myself, it actually is not the pandemic, not the Coronavirus and not COVID-19. Instead, it is the onslaught of other’s comments, their attitudes their fear and hysteria.
No matter what my attitude and no matter how much I stay away from other’s fear, it has invaded my space.
I don’t even have TV, no cable TV, and I don’t seek out endless news reports to listen to. All I have sought out on the Internet were 3 live reports from President Trump, that’s it. I also have the CDC website that I quickly look at every few days so that I am aware of global and US death count.
That’s it. That is my personal limit for what I choose to be exposed to. I have already looked into the history, the conspiracy theories, and made a determination of my opinion weeks ago.
I have clearly expressed to those around me my opinion on the situation that I don’t want to be bombarded with fear and hysteria. I mean even the constant discussion on the pandemic subject gets to be a negative force and I don’t want it.
This is where the kindness comes in. I know how to be kind. I know how to hear someone’s anxiety and attempt to smother it with kindness instead of fueling it with more anxiety.
Easier said than done during a pandemic when fear and the-sky-is-falling seems to be the only thing people will discuss. But I can do my part, to the very best of my ability, and ask God to provide when it is more than I can bear.
So, when I feel that fear factor inside of me, now I can see that it is other’s fear and anxiety that is overwhelming me, not my own fear. With that awareness, I can smother as much anxiety with kindness as I possibly can. I can ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to me when there is no amount of kindness that will quiet some and I need to walk away. Okay, sometimes RUN!!!
Can you tell I am being overwhelmed by others that I cannot get away from? Bless them. May I have more patience. May I remember my past with fear and have compassion instead of overwhelm.
Lord, teach us eternal lessons during this pandemic. Touch us, humble us, grow us through this experience. Pull us in closer to you and not against each other. Increase our kindness, decrease our anxiety.
Lord, keep my nose in scripture daily to keep the focus on you, not on me and not on others.
Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up.
~ Proverbs 12:25 NIV