Daly Focus Blog
The coronavirus pandemic has been very bad for many things – but it has given many parents – myself included – extra time to talk with their children.
Just the other day, I was chatting with one of our sons and a tender subject came up.
It involved the sudden and unexpected death of one of his friends. We’ve talked about it in the past and even prayed and grieved over it as a family, but we’ve probably never discussed it as deeply or as meaningfully as we did this time around.
With much
of the country weeks into a lockdown, calls to the National Mental Health
Hotline have increased by almost 900 percent.
The
uncertainty of these times is resulting in a steep rise in anxiety and
depression. For many, social distancing has turned into social isolation. Some
have turned away from people and toward food, alcohol, online shopping, and
pornography. Others are suffering from racing thoughts, sleepless nights, and irritability.
It becomes
a trap. When we’re anxious and fearful, we can’t concentrate, our creativity
and productivity go down, and it’s hard to see options.
We’ve just come through Easter, a time when many churches in America experience near record attendance. The coronavirus changed all of that this year, of course.
Congregations are being wonderfully innovative, and many are streaming their services on their websites or through social media channels. Some are even reporting that their online metrics suggest they’re reaching more with the Gospel than ever before.
It’s just like the Christian church to thrive in crisis!
But not every church is thriving and reaching more people.
Most of us
have spent a lot more time at home than we would have imagined possible a few
weeks ago. The good news is that we’ve gotten plenty of extra time in close
quarters to spend with our spouse.
The bad
news … is that we’ve gotten plenty of extra time in close quarters to spend
with our spouse!
When
people are thrown together in stressful situations, the good and the bad
eventually bubble to the surface.
Most
Americans have been on virtual lockdown since March. Everything from sports to
restaurants have been shut down for weeks. The one thing we haven’t lost is our
screens. Which means a lot of us have filled our days with video games and
online shopping while we binge on Netflix.
I get it.
This is a stressful time, and a little distraction is good for us. But spending
nearly every waking moment in front of a screen isn’t.
History is always a good teacher.
If you were to visit the National Archives building in Washington, D.C., you’d see two separate statues just outside its Pennsylvania Avenue entrance.
One is a sculpture that contains a paraphrase of a quote from Confucius. It reads, “Study the past.” The figure is holding a closed book representing history’s previous events.
The other is a sculpture titled, “Future,” and at its base is a line from Shakespeare’s “Tempest” – “What is Past is Prologue.”
In other words, everything that’s happened contributes to everything that’s happening today and that will occur tomorrow.
Should God receive credit for the turning of the tide of the coronavirus global pandemic?
Not according to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Speaking earlier this week, the Empire State’s chief executive, who is Catholic, was blunt:
“The number is down because we brought the number down,” he told reporters. “God did not do that. Faith did not do that. Destiny did not do that. A lot of pain and suffering did that…That’s how it works. It’s math.
We’re
several weeks into the coronavirus outbreak, and by now you’ve memorized a
dozen methods for keeping your body’s immune system strong.
But what are
you doing to keep your marriage strong?
When we’re
stressed, we strike out at the people closest to us, namely our spouse and children.
That’s especially true when you’re cooped up together under quarantine. Good
marriages can be strained, and bad marriages can be stressed to their breaking
point.
A couple’s
differences can either serve as triggers for conflict or as points of tension that
can strengthen the relationship.
Words matter.
Every year contains its share of popular terms and catch phrases, words uttered and written so often that they become part of the national vernacular. In the build-up to President Donald Trump’s impeachment in 2019, it was “quid pro quo” – a Latin phrase that means, basically, a favor for a favor.
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, everyone from the president of the United States down to local community leaders have made “social distancing” the latest household phrase, and with the very best of intentions.
Since the outbreak and escalation of the coronavirus pandemic in March, pastors and faith leaders throughout the United States have cooperated with local and state officials in doing their part to “flatten the curve” of the pathogen by either canceling or transitioning in-person church services to online platforms.
For anyone born over the course of the last one-hundred years, the changes in weekly worship habits have been unprecedented. In fact, church services during the Spanish flu epidemic between 1918 and 1920 carried on as usual – for good or bad.
Jim Daly is a husband, father and President of Focus on the Family and host of its National Radio Hall of Fame broadcast. His blog, Daly Focus, is full of timely commentary and wisdom designed to help you navigate and understand today’s culture. His latest book is Marriage Done Right.
