While taking my morning bicycle ride, I noticed that nature has no idea what humans are going through with Covid-19. The egret, who lives in a pond near my home, flapped his huge white wings while flying over head. The mother duck, across the road, was proudly parading her set of five duckling behind her. The turtles, sparkling on logs in the sun, promptly protected themselves by slipping into the murky water as I passed. But that was fine, because the wildflowers displayed an array of pink, purple, and yellow blossoms. What a wonderful greeting on a summer day. Truly the psalmist said it best, “ The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament proclaims the work of His hands.” Psalm 19:1 For nature, it’s business as usual showing off her beauty in fashions of splendor.

But for humans, like me, this summer is different. As much as I love summer, there is a dark cloud planted in the horizon whose gloom has been circling the world with a pandemic that has sickened and killed many. It’s dark shadows have limited our freedoms, curtailed our relationships with family and friends, and has caused havoc in every spear of our lives. We have had to invent new ways to live, to work and to connect. “ Although this pandemic is manmade, we can look to God for wisdom and strength. “Dear Friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.” 1 Peter 4:12. We have need of patience until a working vaccine is discovered. The race is on for that to happen but as humans we come up with all kinds of theories, home made remedies and a chance, through pride, to parade our own ignorance by ignoring legitimate facts by those epidemiologists who have made it their lives work.

Our temporary trials are but a speck in our average life span. So how do we learn to cope in such a time as this and not fall into a pit of man-made myths and falsehoods in our impatience for a cure? That will be the subject of my next blog. See www.lifewithlarry.org