Peace. Be Still. And wash your hands.

These are the days of people grocery shopping with gloves on, buying toilet paper by the case and backing away from handshakes. A nervous store clerk scrubs the counter with a pile of wipes and tries to take my dollars without touching my hand. I have to answer a million questions to enter a school where everyone has known my name for 12 years. And I realize as I greet a friend that I haven’t hugged anyone in weeks. This is what March of 2020 looks like. And we are all finding it hard to get our bearings.

My oldest texts me to say he’s pretty sure school is going to be shut down for weeks and to remind me to buy peanut butter. Because life is both scary and regular all at the same time. My inbox yells at me that everyone is worried. Even Target has sent me a note telling me to be vigilant with my hand washing when I am in their store.

The anxiety hangs over every public venue like a waterlogged blanket. I breathe it in and wonder how to keep from exhaling it back out. Because even in the middle of this, I believe that God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and a strong mind. Yet, I falter; unable to figure out what that looks like in March of 2020.

And so God, in his kindness, paints me a picture in the most unexpected way.

I am rushing through a parking lot, and there is this man near me. He’s struggling to hold his oxygen tank on his shoulder and load his groceries at the same time. The cart begins to roll, and he lunges, off-balance trying to catch it. Instinctively I move toward him, but another woman makes it before me. She starts to grab the man but sees his oxygen and backs away. Instead, she grabs the cart and uses it to not only steady him but to keep her distance. Then she pulls wipes out of her purse and cleans the entire cart before tossing some to the man so he can do the same. She motions for him to get in the car, loads the groceries and then wipes all of the bag handles and trunk lift down before waving to the man and returning the cart to the store.

Thank goodness she never saw me. I was frozen in place and unable to contain my tears. The art of how to love your neighbor in March of 2020 was more than I could handle. Oh, that we could all learn how to offer such wise help; to move toward one another with compassion … and wisdom.

“In this world, you will have trouble,” Jesus promised his disciples, “But take heart, I have overcome the world.”

And in this world where viruses float invisibly around us and threaten to take down our loved ones and whole economic systems with them, there is no doubt of the trouble that surrounds us. So, how exactly are we called to navigate this? There seems to be no playbook for how to live in this uncertain place.

But then God reminds me of a story in his Playbook. It’s the story of the disciples and a stormy night on the sea. They were rocked and tipped and nearly drowned by waves that made even those weathered fishermen fear for their lives. And it nearly took them down. Until they remembered something. In the back of their storm-ravaged boat was the Savior of the whole world, Jesus. The storm did not surprise or shock him; nor did it even wake him from his sleep. The disciples struggled and bailed water and wrung their hands over the mess they were in. And Jesus slept.

“Don’t you even care that we are going to die?” they yell as they pull him from his slumber. Jesus just got up, and I love to imagine how he must’ve met the eyes of his terrified disciples and tried to calm their hearts. And then he turned, looked right into the pitch of that storm and silenced it all.

Peace. Be still.

The words stick in my mind because I know the story and all the lessons. Jesus can calm any storm. Put your eyes on him, and he will bring you peace. And I know with every fiber of my being that this is true. But still, I struggle. What does this look like in real life? How do we speak peace into a world terrified to touch each other; a world where people are hoarding hand sanitizer and toilet paper?

Well, maybe it’s as simple as remembering who is in the boat with us. Cause here’s the truth. We may be walking through a storm. But we are not held captive by it. We are those who can see through it; through the anxiety, through the fear and the doubt and parts and pieces of information that come tumbling out of the news pundits’ mouths.

We don’t ignore it. We don’t dismiss it. But. We have Hope itself in the boat with us! So, we can look straight into the worst of it. And then? Well, then, we are the ones who figure out how to move toward it, wisely.

Peace. Be still.

The world looks different today than it did yesterday. And who knows what it might look like tomorrow. But take heart, some things in this world will not change. We are still called to love our neighbors. Even if it looks a little different for a while.

So, we carry our wipes, stay grocery store cart lengths apart but still steady those who falter. We wash our hands and make it a point to look each other in the eye when we pass. We stay away but still are vigilant to check-in. Friends, we need each other. Even the guy with the suit behind the new’s desk speaks that truth. We are in this together. And we are not alone.

Peace. Be Still.

The Lord is in the boat with us. And he’s the Master of calming storms.

So, grab your sanitizer, clean your surfaces, wash your hands, forgo the hugs. But, friends, do not give up moving wisely towards one another in love.

These are the days where you just never know who might need a clean grocery cart to lean on.

“Stay alert, stand firm in the faith, show courage, be strong. Everything you do should be done in love” (1 Corinthians 16:13-14 NET).