These changing times will change us, but not for the worse

The ambient anxiety is palpable, but it is not affecting us the way people might expect.

So many people I’ve talked to have worried about the reactions of panicked people, but have you noticed how few they really are?  The vast majority of people are appropriately concerned — even if they weren’t represented on some crowded beach that’s now been closed.

I’ve connected with one of those Coronavirus Care Facebook pages in my city, and I’ve been astounded around the level of community cohesion that’s happening.  Sustaining it you might think would be an issue when the present crisis deepens over the coming months, but early signs are an inspiration, and I suspect an army will rise.

Very truly we’re heading into double whammy perfect storm of loss, both in terms of human and financial loss.  And yet, somehow, we as a society are standing up to attention.  We are facing this giant.  We are taking it seriously, finally.

We recognise that the only way we get through this is by pulling together.

The callous critic will, for once, be quietened down, because their day has passed.

This doesn’t mean the time and place for criticism has passed, just that people will require it to be free of cynicism.  People everywhere will be looking for leadership.  As a society, we will demand good news stories to offset the horrors, to keep us buoyant in hope and belief, and we have the ingenuity to create innovations from revelations, which is to make the best out of the worst situations, because God is with us and for us!

For the rise in the ambient anxiety there is a deepening in our typical spirituality.

Nobody’s taking life for granted right now, and that’s such a blessed reality, not that any of us is thankful for the unparalleled suffering that people are commonly bearing right now.

There’s a time coming where very many people will experience what they’re completely unprepared for.  This will mean a mobilisation is required of all those people (you know who you are) who have prepared for this very moment in history.

An army of helpers will turn up and help the depressed, the vulnerable, the desperate, and those driven deep into fear by violence.  This is the wartime many have subconsciously been waiting for.

Those who are brave, who are prepared to put people first, ahead of money and ahead of the priorities of government, will, by their faith, be the leaders of this age we’re now coming into.

The compassionate will rise in these times, because they understand and connect with suffering.  So this won’t be a time of cataclysmic catastrophe, though we will need to endure many coming nerve-rending shockwaves.

These changing times which have shocked us out of our comparative decadence will change us, but not for the worse.  As a society we will be conformed within the crucible of the suffering to come.

But it won’t defeat us.

Photo by alex bracken on Unsplash