What I’d go tell my two-month-ago-younger-self if I could

Dear two-month-ago-younger-self,

Don’t worry.

Please don’t worry right now about the little tasks you’re fashioning with such importance.  They’ll look after themselves.  You know they will.  So, stop fussing.  For, more is coming.  More than you can imagine.

Yes, I see you checking in on the scores.  That win and that loss, they seem so important now, don’t they?  Seem.  That’s a word!  You’ll find out very soon how irrelevant these sports are.  Not the lives that play the sports, but the energy that shifts under our feet for the fortunes of ‘our teams’.  More is coming.  More than you can imagine.

That’s just the sports channel.  Now cast your mind to travel.  That’s gone too.  Concerts, get-togethers with friends, school, everything’s gone online.  Every event you can imagine.  Gone.  House arrest, or as close as.  You aren’t taking me seriously, are you.  Please, listen.

It gets worse.  Your job — everyone’s job — the economic security of the world — is teetering.  So much financial loss.  Imagine everything closed, like the world shutting down, barring only the most essential of services.

Though people scoffed at this disease in the early days, fewer and fewer are scoffing now.  People are dying more and more by the day, as infections rise exponentially.

Now, I’m thinking for a moment and I wonder if it’s fair to burden the future version of myself with such a catastrophic reality.  It will be okay, of course.  It always turns out well.  That’s what I want you to know.  You trust God and that’s good for you.  Keep encouraging others to do just that.

Encourage them not to fall for conspiracy theories and end time prophecies.  It’s the last thing you need.  Just stay in the day.  Keep life simple, as Jesus told you.

You’ve heard about this thing that’s only just starting to come — out of China.  This is disease isn’t racist, but because it’s so far away right now, you truly don’t appreciate yet how much it will turn YOUR life upside down.  It will turn EVERYONE’S lives upside down.  It will turn LIFE upside down.

There is so much more to say, but one final thing I want you to know is this.  What is occurring is breathtaking and incredible.  Watch for the silver linings to this cloud, because they are surely there.

As you know, Fred Rogers used to say, when times are tough, look for the helpers.  I see helpers and much more kindness than usual right now.  There is much to hope for.  So don’t lose heart.  Keep looking up.  Don’t lose your joy.  Be at peace as you pray for the world.

Photo by Álvaro Serrano on Unsplash