Antidote

A few days go, I started feeling achy and tired. My head drifted into a fog. My doctor sent me to get a COVID test on October 2. I await the results.

Whether the tests come back negative or positive, I feel like the fatigue and heaviness I feel are not biological; they are spiritual.

I feel under the weather in my spirit.

I note that the more I expose myself to the news and social media, the more my spirit feels feverish and weak.

It is as if I am absorbing all of the anger and fear that I see in the world.

What about you? Do you feel it, too?

What is the antidote?

I can tell you what will not neutralize the poison.

Taking in more news and more social media will not make things better. If you keep searching for hope in those places, you will not find it.

Voting for one candidate or another will neither comfort nor heal you.

Beating whoever you count as your opponent will only end up making you feel worse.

Pretending that the world is not there will not make it go away.

So, what can we do about this sickness in our spirits?

Do something for somebody.

I know it seems hard to do something for somebody when COVID is going around. But it is only hard because we are used to doing it the way we did it for so long. We simply have to find new ways to do good for others as long as COVID is a concern.

It is easier than we think. We all have friends and relatives who haven’t heard from us in a long time. We can pick up the phone.

We all have neighbors we don’t know or only see once in a very long while. Now is a good time to say “hello” to them over the fence.

Or go for a walk every day around your neighborhood. Try to take a different route every time. Pay close attention to everything. Say “hello” to the people you meet along the way. You may see opportunities to help out.

Volunteering in groups outside is not canceled. This year, the nonprofit that I lead hosted more volunteers in our neighborhood garden than any year since I started. We mask up, spread out in the garden, and grow food for people who lost their income because of the pandemic. I bet you could find something like this to do, too.

Now is also a great time to volunteer for boards and committees. They’re mostly meeting online (so you don’t have to leave home) and they really need what you have right now (your energy, thoughts, and time). Find an organization or project you care about and join in.

Or start your own project. Make it a book club, a pen pal ministry, a prayer ministry, or tutoring for a kid who is learning from home this year (if you don’t have one yourself).

As sure as God lives and the Spirit moves through the world, the antidote to the sickness in our spirits is free and right there for the taking.

What will you do?