Lent 2021, Day 20: In the midst of things.

Tonight President Biden is going to address the nation, marking one year since the COVID19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization.

One year. One long, horrible year. Millions dead, many more millions sickened. Jobs loss, schools shuttered, hospitals overcrowded, and people worldwide feeling terror. Birthday parties, proms, graduations, weddings and baby showers, cancelled.

Parents struggled to balance work and their kids’ remote learning. Residents of nursing homes became sick and died at very high rates. With no customers, many businesses were forced to close, first temporarily, then permanently.

Z took the pictures of me above nearly a year apart, the left in 2020, the right, today. Both were on sunny, mild March days, giving a little sneak peak of the Spring ahead. Yet, what a difference a year makes. I have a pretty decent collection of masks now, and I don’t even go to get the mail without one. Half of my face obscured, I haven’t bothered with lipstick in months.

The Black Lives Matter tank has been in constant rotation since the protests that took place last summer in the wake of George Floyd’s death. Our lives have meaning. My life has meaning.

I always go comfort, whether that be in overalls or camo. But today’s pants seem more fitting now. Soft, yes, but styled like army fatigues. We’re in a fight, and I’m so very tired.

I think, perhaps, we’re turning a corner. There is some light at the end of this long, harrowing, tunnel. We’re halfway through Lent, too. I will continue to look to Jesus, who told Satan during his 40 day fast: “For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'” I love the end of Jesus’ temptation story: “Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.”

Stay focused on God, and we’ll get through this.

• Read about Jesus’ 40 Days in the Wilderness here.
• Time for a Mid-Lent self-examination. If you chose to give up or fast from something, have you stuck to it?
• How have you changed over the past year, for better or worse?