I’m thankful that it’s spring! How about you?

Spring is my favorite season of the year as I watch the trees budding, the flowers coming into bloom, the grass turning from brown to green, and hear the birds singing. I enjoy the warm sunshine and the fresh air perfumed with floral scents. I am blessed that I live where I can spend time outdoors every day.

Like 9/11, spring of 2020 is one for the history books. When I hear the news and read social media posts, I feel the frustration, fear, anger, and uncertainty most of us are experiencing, along with the sorrow for suffering and death. What a relief to know our country is beginning steps to reopen, like the proverbial “light at the end of the tunnel.” Yet, the light is still a long way off, and we still face a lot of uncertainty.

It’s difficult to separate the real news from the fake, and to know who is telling us the nonfiction story.

It’s subtle, it’s nagging, but it’s there: the underlying stress, the anxiety, the uncertainty. I think I feel it most when I go shopping. Each week a different “something” is missing from the shelves. Wearing a mask is uncomfortable. And there’s always the thought, “What if someone is here who has the virus?” I try to be careful so I don’t put someone else at risk.

The “experts” are saying that science will give us the answers, the solution, to the pandemic. I am thankful for the scientists who use their knowledge  to find tests, treatments, and cures for diseases. Science doesn’t have a mind and will, however.

As a Christian, I am thankful that our Creator gave humans the means to discover and manufacture vaccines and medicines to fight diseases. I am thankful for the scientists who study and experiment to find cures. I am thankful for the many healthcare workers who have been over-extending themselves to comfort and care for the ill and dying.

No person has control over the future. God ultimately rules and reigns and decides. He knows perfectly, He is perfectly wise, and He loves us unconditionally. I believe He sends trials and trouble to test our faith, which in turn strengthens our faith.

“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience [endurance]. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” James 1:2-4

Believing that I’m allowed to pray about anything in Jesus’s name, I am praying for an end to this pandemic. But I also pray that I, and other believers, will be the salt and light the world needs to introduce others to Jesus Christ and the eternal salvation He offers.