In the past fifteen months, what’s changed? 

The pandemic and 2020’s fallout have been changing me, just when I thought I was too old to change.  Nobody’s ever that old, right?* 

 I can’t predict for how long these changes will last; but here’s how I am changing for now. (Ignoring the plethora of paintings — an artistic elephant in our living room)

1. My hair is longer. (Index of my shallowness?) Of course others would describe my hair cut as short; for me, though, it’s a change. The weirdness of longer hair is wearing off.  

2. We now use only cloth napkins. I have accumulated  quite a stash in forty-eight years of marriage. Can you believe I still have a few from our first year of marriage?

Vera, circa 1972

What was I thinking, not using them except for high days and holidays? Coming through these interesting times remains a cause for celebration! 

Another Thing:

I  feel like I am still living on a set of  some B Grade movie trying to remember my lines. What I thought was in the script’s been changed.  

This is especially true, since COVID, and conspiracy theories  remain  the background music to the unfolding plot line that is today’s production.   

This isn’t as bad as it sounds —to muffle some of the static I reread the Gospels . . . it’s been awhile since I did that.  

Unfortunately, I caught myself rushing through familiar passages looking for answers. So, perhaps I will go  more slowly the next time.  

I’ve also been reading parts of the Bible out loud, with friends.  

In a sense, hearing the word read connects me with former times; times equally as troubling and uncertain as today.  Maybe like imagining how it was when Lydia heard Paul.(Acts 16:11-15)

 What’s Changed — What is Changing 

These past fifteen months showed me I am never too old to: 

1. Figure out better ways to be open, hospitable, and teachable. 

It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for a bird to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.” ― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

2. Pray more, talk less. 

Praying has come to be the only response I have to the troubles that innocent people suffer, or contentious people insist on inviting.  Abraham Lincoln was right:

“I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had no where else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.”

How are you doing, reader? What’s changed for you?

*  Panic Makes Me Feel Like a Goldfish 

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