Thursday 26 March 2020

When This is Over…


Image by enriquelopezgarre from Pixabay
When This is Over…
How are things with you these days? I imagine there have been significant changes to your normal routine. Confinement has seen me running out of excuses and actually tacking the mess I laughingly call my study. (Starting to tackle)
My local shop is allowing just two customers in at any one time. He has considerately marked out the floor into metre squares in black and yellow tape. Shopping is now a dance class, but we are all grateful. I like chunky rolled oats for my porridge and it is not easy to come by these days. But my local shopkeeper, who doesn’t usually carry them, found a box for me and made a friend for life.
I needed to visit the chemist in the city centre and the roads and pavements were quieter than a wet Sunday in November. I knew the police were stopping drivers to ask if they have a legitimate reason to be out. I did, but I still felt somehow guilty, waiting for that tap on the shoulder. We had to go to the hospital and that journey has never been so quick and trouble free.
When I walk my dog the streets are eerily quiet. I am reminded of the 1959 film On The Beach, an end of the world following nuclear war story by Nevil Shute. Streets become increasingly bare and empty, ordinary life breaks down as the radiation poison spreads. The only person left in the world in the end is the cameraman. Funny that.
Of course, this isn’t the end of the world. We will get through this, though at unimaginable cost in lives, livelihoods, mental, emotional, and economic damage. As we become accustomed to this new reality, people will surely find themselves making ‘when this is over’ promises to themselves. When this is over I’m going to stop making excuses and...
chase that job...
Take that trip…
End that relationship…
Mend that relationship…
Finally propose…
Start my business…
Hold my family that much closer...
Fill in your own ‘when this is over’ promise…
However, when this is over some of us won’t be here, and not just because of Covid-19. Notwithstanding the virus the mortality rate is still 100% - that’s life. We are all staring into eternity. For some it is more immediate than for others, but it is a reality for all. One thing I have learned is you can’t negotiate with eternity.
Can I suggest, therefore, instead of making ‘when this is over’ resolutions, those who can might take ‘by the time this is over’ actions. If eternal questions are on your mind there are plenty of good resources available. f you know a Christian I am sure they can recommend some. I am a Christian by the way and I welcome questions, but it doesn’t have to be me.
Many are already complaining about how restrictive and boring this enforced isolation is. It looks like life isn’t going to get back to normal (whatever your normal is) for some time to come.
I am currently inundated with offers of free to download books about all sorts of subjects, short courses that are normally paid for are, for a limited time, being offered in exchange for simply signing up to a list. Perhaps, like me, you have some sorting out to do. Why not use the time wisely and with purpose. By the time this is over I will have…
Learned a language…
Called an old friend…
Sorted my shed…
Planted a border…
Started a blog…
Started a website…
Learned the piano…
Talked to someone about God...
Become expert at something…at least good enough to hold my own in the black chair.
Apart from tidying my study, I am learning a new note-taking system. I hope, by the time this is over, I will have mastered a system of note-taking that makes me more efficient in my writing, and have a better ordered study in which to write (if you’re the gambling type I’d put money on the first...ahem)
Of course, when this is over I will hold my family closer and I am sure you will yours. When this is over I will want to make changes, moved perhaps by these times, resolved maybe by the reassessment that is common to many of us in these days, to make a greater difference in my little part of the world. But...

What will you have done by the time this is over?
Stay safe

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