Read Luke 7:31-35.
“To what will I compare the people of this generation?” Jesus asked. “What are they like?”
As a foster parent I had the unique perspective of having raised a “quarantined” baby. Her world was so small, made up of me and my husband right up until she entered daycare at the end of 2020. I worried about how this different world had already impacted my baby and how this transition would further affect her, but I was unprepared for one of the most noticeable things. One of her favorite toys was a Doc McStuffins doctor kit, which included an otoscope. This toy, though made to look in ears, in her hands, was always placed on foreheads. I repeatedly tried to get her to use it properly, still she persisted. Four months in, I realized that she was recognizing that tool as one used for the daily temperature checks we were both subject to at the daycare. I worry for her and what she’s missing out and how she might be traumatized in some way. Meanwhile she’s adapting her tools to meet her present circumstance and filling our lives with such joy.
What are we like? “Children,” came the answer in the text. A second year into a pandemic, we might be childish in our fatigue, in our complaining, even in our exasperation. But if we are like children, hopefully we also possess the resilience we often see in them as well.
Pray
Dear God, on this difficult road please give us the strength to arrive at the end of this uncertainty, just as you came to Earth, in the hopefulness of a child.
Jessica Maudlin Phelps
Associate for Sustainable Living and Earth Care Concerns
Words for Waiting 