ON THE PLUS SIDE

What was that old saying, that a smile is just a frown turned around the right way? I agree, we've had plenty to frown about over the past year with the fears and horrors of the Covid-19 pandemic. As a “senior” with asthma, I have a target painted on my back (or is it the lungs?) for this scourge. At times, I get tired of all the confinement and precautions. But it's what we're called to do. Yet in the midst of all these negatives, there's another calling which might be called the “spiritual vaccination” for life's negatives. It's called “gratitude.”

I keep a file folder of “good stuff” I come across in my reading, thinking it might someday work into an article or blog. When cleaning off the desk lately (isn't everybody doing some sort of cleaning while confined?) I came across some wisdom about gratitude and having a positive attitude.

Gratitude begets gratitude, just as love begets love. So wrote the Dutch parish priest Henri J.M. Nouwen (1932-1996) in Life of the Beloved (Crossroads, 1992). He talked about working with institutionalized physically and mentally challenged people who had unfulfilled desires (like a life partner) and constant frustrations of needing assistance. Still, he said, they chose gratitude over bitterness. Little things meant a lot to them, like an invitation to dinner or being in community with people who offered friendship. In choosing gratitude over bitterness, they also inspired their caregivers. Nouwen added, “When we keep claiming the light we will find ourselves becoming more and more radiant. What fascinates me so much is that every time we decide to be grateful it will be easier to see new things to be grateful for. Gratitude begets gratitude, just as love begets love” (p. 62).

Focus on the good things in your life. That “prescription” came from Lisa Petsche, a clinical social worker, in an E-zine article. It's easy to be critical, she noted, when the world around us is pessimistic and the media focuses on disaster, failure, and discord. Proving true the saying that “misery loves company,” people join in, nurturing a negative outlook. The end result is stress that harms our physical and emotional well-being.

Some of her suggestions for nurturing a healing positive attitude:

*Limit media exposure.

*Use positive self-talk: “I can.” “I will.” “I choose.”

*Praise and encourage others.

*Humor yourself—with the newspaper comics, a hilarious sitcom, a fun book.

*Accept that some things you cannot change, but you can choose how to respond.

*Keep connected to caring people. Limit time with uncaring people and be forgiving.

*Have a “dump” place—a caring, trustworthy person or a private journal. (She didn't say so, but God's quite adept at handling our “dump times.”)

*Don't dwell on past mistakes or hurtful events.

*Do kind things for others.

*Put “quiet” into each day to nurture your spiritual life.

*Focus on positives: good relationships, the beauty of nature or art. Count blessings.(1)

If Henri Nouwen had studied her list, I'm sure he'd add this with the spiritual dimension, quoting the apostle Paul who wrote from a putrid prison: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near” (Philippians 4:4-5).

1. http://www.simplejoy.org/positive_attitude.htm (accessed Sept. 23, 2005, no longer online)

HOW LONG?

It wasn't COVID-19 that put the Bible's Job in the town dump, in utter physical and mental misery after losing his children, wealth and health. The Bible book bearing his name mentions painful sores from his feet to the top of his head. (Was it full-body shingles?) Devastated, miserable beyond words, he finally asks some friends a question of two penetrating words: How long.

Even common laborers, after working all day, get to sleep at night. But Job's pain keeps him awake. “The night drags on and I toss till dawn,” he says (Job 7:4), because of his unbearable suffering from this mystery disease. Then, in a more famous verse, he adds: “My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and they come to an end without hope” (v. 6).

How long? I've heard those same words behind the conversations about the coronavirus. How long before a vaccine attacks the beastly virus? How long before normalcy returns to life, without required masks, social distancing, and constant hand-washing? How long before the shadow of death from this virulent illness passes?

Maybe it's worth considering that Bildad the Shuhite, one of Job's so-called “comforters,” turned “how long” into a rebuke:

How long will you say such things? Your words are a blustering wind. (8:2)

And Job rejects their so-called advice with other “how-longs” or similar defenses:

How long will you torment me and crush me with words? (19:1)

When we're up against something that is too big, too awful, and too hard, it's always good to submit to an attitude check. We don't always find the healing perspective in commiserating with other complainers and sufferers.

I grew up going to church and Sunday school, plus completed two years of “confirmation class.” And while I had some head knowledge about my faith, I realized how little I embraced when I got to college and had to take a required class in great literature.

Guess what: Job was in there along with other secular books like “The Prince” by Machiavelli. The college bookstore even sold Bibles for that class because that's where students could find “Job” in those pre-internet days! Well, I'd brought my old childhood Bible to campus, but never had tackled Job. I had a lot of learn. I still do.

I know now that after all the blaming and accusing dialogue between Job and his “friends,” the truth emerges when the voice of God enters the conversation. Just how that happened, I'll find out in Heaven. But Job caught a glimmer of hope almost exactly halfway through this inspired book of ancient poetry. When I read this passage, I also remember how it glistened as a vocal solo in Handel's oratorio The Messiah:

I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; And though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. (Job 19:25-26)

The book of Job ends well: he's physically healed, his wealth restored, and more children born to him, including daughters who were the most beautiful of their times (42:15). I find that an interesting detail!

But I know I can't read Job as a prescription for my life. Suffering may come. I may even be a victim of this dreaded virus. I don't want to be, but I have to leave that to God. Because: I know my Redeemer lives—and someday I will see God.

In the meantime, I cherish scriptures like this one:

The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O LORD, endures forever—do not abandon the works of your hands.(Psalm 138:8 NIV)

Such a perspective changes the whiny “why me?” and “how long?” into a trust that God knows—and that should be enough.

LAST WORDS

You can't forget it—the haunting public service television ad for COVID-19 precautions that starts with a grown man giving what's a difficult, heartfelt message to his mother. As he speaks, he soon becomes the image on a computer tablet, then we see the gloved hands holding the tablet amid the sounds of a ventilator and the surroundings of an intensive care unit. He chokes out his final love message to his mother—the one he can't give in person as her death comes.  Every day as I mask up, wash up, and all the rest, I realize anew that COVID-19 is lethal, and it could end my life in just days. But I cling to something else: God's promise to never leave me nor forsake me (Hebrews 13:5). He has told us that a place is prepared in Heaven for those who love and trust in Him. 

We also have the last words of people who gave their all for Jesus, and who left a witness to eternity in their final moments witnessed by friends, family or caregivers. Fifteenth century German reformer Martin Luther reportedly repeated three times: “Into Thy hands I commend my spirit! Thou hast redeemed me, O God of Truth.” 

John Wesley, great English preacher, founder of Methodism, just before dying in 1791: “The best of it is, God is with us.”

Evangelist Dwight Moody, at death in 1899 : “Earth is receding, heaven is opening, This is my coronation day. If this is death, it is sweet! There is no valley here. God is calling me and I must go.” 

More recently: Audrey Wetherall Johnson, founder of Bible Study Fellowship, last words in 1984, as reported by her attending nurse: “The Lord is coming for me today. He's at the foot of my bed right now.” Those with her saw a light on her face. She took her last breath soon after. 

Campus Crusade founder Bill Bright, dying of lung disease in 2003: “I am in the presence of the living God, satisfied at the deepest core of my being.” 

In stark contrast, consider the last words of Sir Julian Huxley, English evolutionist, biologist and staunch atheist: "So it is true after all, so it is true after all."

Someday, unless Christ's second coming precedes our own deaths, each of us will pause at the allegorical death's door. Of that moment, wrote Philip Keller in A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, “For the child of God, death is not an end but merely the door into a higher and more exalted life of intimate contact with God” (Zondervan, 1970, p. 84). 

We know that Christ is coming again—in a twinkling of an eye—to call forth those who believed in Him—both the dead and the alive. What a prospect! What a hope. COVID-19 may kill the body, but it can't take away the promise of Heaven. 

Count on it, like Dwight Moody preached a few months before his body gave up and he died: “Some day you will read in the papers that D.L. Moody of East Northfield, Illinois, is dead. Don't you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now! I shall have gone up higher, that is all—out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal, a body death cannot touch, that sin cannot taint, a body fashioned like unto His glorious body.” (1)

(1) 1. J.C. Pollock, Moody (New York: The Macmillan Col 1961), p. 316).

CLOSED

Our local Senior Center was one of our community's first closures in response to the coronavirus outbreak. The lockout affected a popular thrift store and services for the aging community, including a daily meal, recreation, legal help and other support. One ill person mingling with others could exponentially infect hundreds of vulnerable seniors. And so the parking lot has sat empty for months. When that will change is anybody’s guess as our county continues to report Covid-19 cases.

As I go out into the invisible world of contagion with my mask and gloves, I sense the stifling of spirits. I also observe the attempts to be gentler, kinder and appreciative. But sanitizing and masking won’t solve the whole problem of weary spirits. Or more recently, the angry spirits that have turned cities into war zones of death, looting and destruction.

We’re repeating the behavior that the Old Testament prophet Isaiah described as “ever hearing but never understanding....ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused” (Matthew 13:14-15a).What? Isaiah quoted in the New Testament? Yes, this good prophet who saw the “disease” of godlessness among his people was used of God to speak timeless words that Jesus would quote for His times--and that He can rightly speak of ours.

I’ve been trying to listen more carefully to Jesus’ words and those of His disciples in a New Testament read-through during this stay-at-home time.  Each time I do a read-through, a big idea seems to surface. This time, I noticed mobs a lot more. The Lord and His followers faced them regularly.  Mobs put Jesus on the cross.  Stephen was stoned to death.  A Jewish zealot named Saul watched that death-scene with satisfaction. Then Saul’s life changed in a supernatural moment in an encounter with the risen Christ. Transformed, Saul-renamed-Paul would face his own near-death encounters at the hands of mobs. But he and the other early Christian leaders never gave up telling people about God’s better plan for the people who inhabit this planet.

Paul put it in a nutshell in his last words to his protégé Timothy.  He reminded this young pastor to not be surprised when hard times came: “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12). But he went back to the hope: scriptures.  “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:15-16).

The Bible will never hang out a sign that says, “Closed for virus concerns.” Just the opposite: it’s there for hope in the midst of virus concerns.  It’s the equipper for life as God intended life to happen.  For those who truthfully and authentically call themselves followers of Jesus Christ, it’s the hope of something bigger and greater after we exhale our last breath—which, with Covid-19, could happen within days of the virus invading a body: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge will award to me on that day” (2 Timothy 7-8).

MASKED

I joined the trend of making face/nose masks in late April as coronavirus concerns ramped up. These I sewed for my three grandsons from some fun fabric I had sitting around.  I haven’t seen the boys “model” them, but at least I gave it a try. I made one for myself, too; hubby has a commercial one that will last a while.

When I took an unmasked neighborhood walk one recent afternoon I saw other walkers (far away!) both masked and unmasked. I’m saving mine for ventures to places like the store where I’m in closer contact with possible bad viruses. But the proliferation of masks as the new public apparel got me thinking of other things that come out of (as well as go into) the two vulnerable holes in our heads (mouth and nose).

In scripture, the mouth was used in a metaphor about what comes out of one’s heart. James spoke strongly against loose and mean talking: “The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body; it corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell” (James 3:6). His Old Testament counterparts who contributed to Proverbs didn’t mince words about “evil” or uncaring words, either.  Like Proverbs 4:24: “Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from you.”  The list of ungodly behaviors Paul warned would escalate before Christ returned included a lot of tongue-dependent activities: boastful, abusive, ungrateful, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, treacherous .... (2 Timothy 3:1-5). Such people, Paul said, would parade as believers, but really aren’t.

Scary. Sneaky. Like the Covid-19 virus we can’t see but strikes both godly and ungodly alike.

A few weeks ago, as pandemic concerns continued to occupy the media, I couldn’t miss the message  that my age and underlying health issues put me up in the “at risk” category. One night, I felt chills coming on; my temperature was indeed already pushing toward 100. I had a cough and sore throat, though it seemed more like allergies than the reported choking cough of this virus. I tidied up my sewing piles, reminded my husband where I’d written computer passwords, and told him I was headed to bed with some concerning symptoms.

In the middle of the night I woke with sure signs of an allergy-related sinus infection, no doubt thanks to intense winds blowing around spring pollens.Whew!  Nothing “Covid-y” came of it. But the incident prompted me to examine my heart as to whether I’m ready to die and meet the Savior. Is my heart clean?  Do the words that come out my mouth (influenced by my heart) exalt the Savior, show kindness, and share wisdom?  No masks should cover up those qualities!  Jesus is worthy of spreading around!

PESTILENCE

One by one they were announced this past weekend--the restrictions on places where people congregated and were apt to share the deadly Corona virus: churches, schools, senior centers, sports and cultural events! I understand, but it is still hard to get my mind around this sudden change in daily life.  I went (gloved but not masked) to my favorite discount grocery store the other day. As I expected, many shelves were bare of basics, thanks to hoarders. As I meandered over to the bakery goods (just restocked), I commented to an employee, “This is scary, all this panic buying.” He replied, “It shouldn’t scare people. We’ll still get our food deliveries on Monday and Wednesday.”

But I “get it” about avoiding invisible contact with a powerful virus that has already taken lives. I’m avoiding going out. Washing my hands lots more. Sanitizing surfaces. Trying to be aware of when I touch my face. Gargling with salt water. And trusting God.

PESTILENCE AND PLAGUE
The scripture that came to mind as soon as we realized the virus wasn’t just a Chinese disaster was Psalm 91.  We have to be careful about applying scripture haphazardly to news events, but I couldn’t get these verses out of my mind:

You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. (Psalm 91:5-6)

Fear is a big thing right now. We need to be alert and careful, but not out of control. This psalm (like Psalm 46, “God is our refuge and strength”) is a reminder of Who we serve and Who is ultimately in control of our eternal destiny. A few days ago the Seattle paper ran a half-page ad from someone who wrote up a treatise, full of Bible references, about hell and the destination of people who reject Christ. I didn’t read through it, as it struck me as coming at people with a nail-spiked club. For the same money, the man who placed it could have fed the hungry, helped pay for medicine, and presented the love of the Christ who died for our sins. Better that people know we are Christians by our love, not our Bible-banging.

As for Psalm 91’s references to “the pestilence that stalks in the darkness” and “the plague that destroys at mid-day,” I appreciated the wisdom of James Montgomery Boice’s commentary on this psalm. He said the passage does not teach that we’ll be entirely spared from disease or pestilence. On the other, we probably have no idea of how many times He has protected us when things could have gone really bad.

I think the key words here are “you shall not fear.” We’re to be prudent about our health habits—and especially so in times of widespread illness—because staying well enables us to serve Jesus longer and well until our time on earth is done.

I read somewhere that Psalm 91 was the last scripture read by Corrie ten Boom’s brother as the entire family waited in a local police station after their arrests for sheltering Jews. Only Corrie survived the terrible persecutions of the war, using her extra years of life to tell people about resting in the shadow of the Almighty (Psalm 91:1). That should be our message, too.