Reminded of the Truth

Charles Dickens begins his classic book, A Tale of Two Cities, with this opening paragraph:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,”.

The book was published in 1859, but this opening seems relevant for today. I think Dickens was trying to describe the complexity, confusion, and paradoxes of the age. So how would we describe the age we have been living in these past few months? Based on what I’ve heard people say, I would have to describe it as the age of “I don’t know what’s going to happen or what to do”. It is a season of uncertainty and unrest.

stress and anxietyJoe ScruggsMay 20, 2020belief, faith

Growth, Trust, and Care

At the risk of making one of the most preposterous understatements of all time, I’m going to begin by saying that COVID-19 has had a major impact on almost all areas of our lives and our society. It has brought to light many things that we don’t normally think about. For example, it has reminded us that heroes are not necessarily famous people like athletes, movie stars, politicians, etc. Many true heroes are in the medical community ranging from physicians to janitors. Others work in the various service industries. This has been a good observation.

Another good reminder is we don’t control as much as we thought we did. We see who we are in the grand scheme of things.

However, COVID-19 has also exposed some troubling things such as shortages of necessary medical supplies and inadequacy of delivery systems. In the long run this will also be a good lesson because you can’t fix a problem until you discover there is a problem.

Years ago, I heard a saying that “Crisis makes the man.” In other words, crisis situations help us grow. One can’t disagree with that, but there is another aspect: “Crisis also shows what the person already is.” With that in mind, what have the virus and quarantine exposed in us that we weren’t aware of? Here are two questions we might ask ourselves in that regard:

stress and anxiety, covid-19Joe ScruggsMay 6, 2020trust, faith, crisis, self-care