One Lesson I’ve ReLearned in the Pandemic

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own (Matt. 6:34, NIV).

New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

When our daughter Michelle died, we received a lot of good advice on how to manage our grief. One comment we heard most frequently from people who had walked the road before us was, “Take it one day at a time.”

That advice served us well.

When you are facing a loss and the grief associated with it, the only way to get through it is to learn to live in the moment, to not look too far ahead. Over the years, I’ve often told people, “If one day at a time is too difficult, then take it an hour at a time–or even a moment at a time.” Ask God to get you just through the next step on the road.

For a while, I’d forgoten that advice.

As I’ve faced the COVID-19 crisis, there have been times that I’ve felt so overwhelmed by the magnitude of what’s happening, I’ve had to battle depression on a level unusual even for me. And it hasn’t helped to see the projections of how many people could die by the time this is all said and done. I hate the uncertainty of all this, the financial worries that come with it, the concerns about loved ones and friends. To borrow from Asaph in Psalm 73:16, “When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply.”

Then I remembered the counsel I’ve given to others over the years who were facing trauma, loss, and grief.

We are facing a time of unprecedented loss, grief, sadness, and uncertainty. The weight of this is too great to carry if you try to look too far ahead.

Take it one day at a time. One hour at a time. One moment at a time, if need be. Ask God for the grace and strenth to get through that next moment, and then trust Him to provide, strengthen, and care for you.

Jesus put it this way:

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:25-34, NIV)