Quarantine has proven quite fruitful in our pursuit of knowledge. Many are using this time to learn or grow in certain areas, taking full advantage of the time presented to them. Others descend into madness, deprived of human interaction and lacking the necessary motivation to get up and do something.

Which are you?

Quarantine has taught us much, regardless of which side you take. In fact, as a general rule, quarantine has taught many the same thing, since we are all humans cooped up in our homes, growing more depressed by the day. We are, for the first time in history, all doing the same thing- nothing. Or, that is, essentially nothing. Either way, quarantine has limited everyone to their homes, and with that limitation has come new factors. These three things, taught to us by our forced stay, present an opportunity to minister, so read carefully.

1: Quarantine has shown us how much we hate our family.

It’s true! Nothing is worse than being stuck with your family in the same house, with no foreseeable escape in the near future. Or so it seems, for this is just the opportunity we need to see both our own hearts and those of our family members. Are your siblings bugging you? Go spend time with them. Is your mom overworking? Go help her cook dinner. Go play chess with your dad or a video game with your brother. They will annoy you, certainly, but they will also love you by the end of this, since you’ll have invested a lot of time into them.

2: Quarantine has shown us how little we appreciated our friends.

You don’t appreciate your friends until you’ve lost them. Now that social distancing has been firmly implemented, we have lost what small semblance of human interaction we had, and we must resort to social media and phone calls as a mediocre replacement. Is there even a solution?

Not really.

The biggest lesson to be learned there is that your appreciation for your friends will show your love. The next time you’re there with them, take a moment and just appreciate them. You don’t have to say anything. In fact, you don’t have to do anything. Just enjoy being with them and don’t take them for granted.

3: Quarantine has shown us just how easily the world can change.

For some, our entire world has turned completely upside down without a moment’s notice. You have likely read my story, and if you haven’t, I encourage you to do so. You probably read stories similar to mine all over the news, or you might hear of them from a family member. In this case, the family member was my aunt, who sent me this letter.

“Today we heard of a dear man who left this life for the next due to Covid. We grieve with the family over his loss, albeit rejoice that he has no more suffering. We also heard that my uncle, after being diagnosed with Covid 3 days ago, was released from the hospital after receiving a cocktail of medication. We rejoice and yet grieve for his suffering.  Every day this week has been up and down and sideways. We are OK. We grieve in the “what could be” and right now cannot as we pause. This is not rest as some are calling for us to see this moment. This is frontline Mash unit life even for those of us tucked safely away in our homes. We never know what each day will bring. So we pray.
Dona Nobis Pacem.
God give us peace.”

The difficulty of this time cannot be overstated. It is not the rest that we’d like, it is warfare, whether spiritual or literal. We must understand it as such. Refusing to acknowledge it makes you foolish, but overestimating it makes you overly-fearful. Be safe, don’t do anything stupid, and above all- stay inside. Foolish Christians are refusing to quarantine, saying, “I’m covered by the blood of Jesus, and it’s within my Constitutional rights to go to church.” Yes, you are, but there are two things that need to be understood first.

1: We are called to come under our governing authorities. It is honestly pathetic how few Christians understand this. So many think that they are justified in refusing to listen to the government if they feel that the government has even looked at their Christian beliefs. Government is there for a reason, and we are called to submit to it.

2: I love the desire to worship with the Lord, but this isn’t about you (the person choosing to do so). It isn’t about the fact that you don’t mind getting the virus or you think you’re protected. It’s about the fact that you might infect OTHERS. How can you live with yourself if you  knew that you infected a small child and were the cause of it’s death?

If you are refusing to stay at home, and instead choose to go to Church, you are only loving yourself. You may think yourself within your rights, but you hold the possibility of hurting people. You aren’t loving others by going outside, you’re exposing them and putting them at risk. Please don’t make that mistake. God bless you.

You aren’t loving others by staying inside, you’re exposing them and putting them at risk.

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Alright, that’s all for today. Thanks so much for reading! I hope you really enjoyed this post. If you did, make sure to click that Follow button below (or to the side). Then, when I release new posts like this, you’ll get notified. Thanks again, and I hope you have a fantastic day!

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