Category: Poetry

~~ a Devotional ~~

 ~~ by tkbrown

There is something about ‘having to stay inside’ that gives us the ‘itch’ to go outside. We are creatures of habit! We are bored staying inside. We feel like we are being punished, but in reality, we are not being punished. We are being protected, but only if we adhere to the stringent lifestyle that must be our abode for a time.

You ask, “How long a time?” “Isn’t a week or two enough?” Probably not. As President Trump has said, it may be months before ‘this lifestyle’ ends. We must protect ourselves, or others will never be able to assist in our protection. We must stay inside unless we absolutely have to get out.

We all have certain, necessary things for which we must leave the home — but, really, those are few. Plan your meals for the week ahead, then have one person get the supplies needed for those meals. Have fun preparing food at home instead of eating out or buying take-home.

If you must go to the doctor, do not drag others along with you. Go, get it over with, and go home. If you have symptoms of COVID-19, please go be tested — do not delay in this. If you infect others, and one of those ‘others’ dies, what will that mean to you?

If you must leave your home to pay a bill, go — pay the bill — then go back home. Do not drive around to see how many people are not staying home.

We must be pro-active in this situation. The people who have pulled together to help us through this are large in number. Be thankful for what they are doing! Listen to what they are saying They have been tasked with a monumental responsibility.

Before COVID-19 erupted, tests to confirm it in a person were non-existent. Those have been created since the virus began. This takes time.  Sometimes, it takes months to create an accurate test. Those tests are now available to those cases doctors deem to exhibit symptoms of COVID-19.

The vaccine to immunize against a new virus cannot be developed until it erupts. Those usually take twelve to eighteen months. They are already being tested, but it will still be several months before they become available to the general public. It must be stringently tested to ensure it does not add to the new cases.

Do what those tasked with protecting you tell us to do! Keep track of the speed of spread with this contagion. and it will help you to see how much danger you are in if you leave your home.

Yesterday, the United States had 1,000 cases of COVID-19. Today, it is 6,000 cases. That means it has multiplied five-fold since yesterday. Think of that! FIVE TIMES MORE than yesterday. How can you protect yourself with people not even knowing (or caring, in some instances) they have been exposed? How can the officials protect you, if you do not keep up with what they are saying? This is really serious!

My mother was born in 1918 — when the Spanish Flue pandemic killed so many people. She was too young to remember the quarantines put into place by governing officials, but her parents and other relatives remembered. She did remember what they said, and she relayed that to us.

Many are going to die, but that number can be greatly reduced by doing what the authorities say. Don’t hold animosity toward them. They have your best interests at heart.

No, I am not panicked. I just know that I must do my part too. I must stay inside — away from other people — unless I absolutely have to go take care of business.

Matthew 22:17-22 (NKJV) relates a situation when the Pharisees tried to trip Jesus up regarding the law and what must be obeyed.

• 17 — “Tell us, therefore, what do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
• 18 — “But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, ‘Why do you test me, you hypocrites?'”
• 19 — “‘Show Me the tax money.’ So, they brought Him a denarius.”
• 20 — “And He said to them, ‘Whose image and inscription is this?'”
• 21 — “They said to Him, ‘Caesar’s’ And He said to them, ‘Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.'”
• 22 — “When they had heard these words, they marveled and left Him and went their way.”

Romans 13:1 and 2 addresses the importance of submitting to the directives of those in positions of power in your country.

• 1 — “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.”
• 2 — “Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgement on themselves.”

So, do your part by doing what our Governing Officials have said we must do. Stay home unless you absolutely must go and do something of importance.

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