On the back page of this newspaper, our readers will find a full page presenting the message “STAY HOME, SAVE LIVES.”
We encourage our readers to display this page in their windows as a sign of solidarity. While we are asked to stay in our homes due to the risks associated with spreading COVID-19, practicing our newly found social distancing skills, we are all in this together. That’s the message we want to convey.
We all want to “flatten the curve” and get back to our normal interactive lives.
Our readers will also notice that we published a quote from the Bible on the second to last page of this week’s newspaper – Psalm 91:1-2.
As I connect with people (from a healthy six feet away), I feel like more people are turning to God during these uncertain times.
And, at the same time people are turning to God, due to concerns with COVID-19, most churches are not conducting worship services with their congregations physically present in the church. Instead, parishioners are watching their worship services via the Internet.
I keep wondering how much this impacts donations to the churches.
While this entire situation revolving around the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19 has temporarily changed our lives, I wonder if this is God’s way of reminding us about what is important.
We are supposed to stay in our homes and have limited contact with as many people as possible. So, more people are spending time with their families, playing board games and sitting down at the dinner table together.
People are making more phone calls to their children, parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents to see how they are doing. “Just checking in,” they say. Everyone is concerned with the health of their family members. And, they want to make sure their family and friends have enough food, hand sanitizer, and toilet paper.
As our leaders hope to strike a balance between preventing both a recession and a public health crisis, we sit and wait. That’s what they want us to do. Wait this thing out. Hopefully, this plan works sooner than later.
Never has there been a time in recent history when leadership has had such an immediately noticeable impact on our lives. The President, governors, and health officials have the weight of the world on their shoulders, literally.
While COVID-19 has changed our lives significantly for the short-term, I’m guessing there will be some long-lasting effects.
If there is a silver lining, it seems like people are demonstrating more compassion, selflessness, and humility — which is a good thing.
I am an eternal optimist, and I do believe there are some positives that have come out of this situation.
If you have a story to share about someone who has done something pretty special for an individual or a group of people during these challenging times, please contact us at the (507) 765-2151. We need to keep sharing these stories.
When COVID-19 is some day only recognized in the pages of our history books and life returns to normal, I have a feeling that churches will be very full on Sundays.