It's the Little Things - How COVID Shifted My Perspective on Love
COVID entered our home last November and I somehow managed to avoid it. We were exposed again and, this time, I wasn’t so lucky. It progressed to pneumonia and has added itself to my other list of ailments (I had just had my second knee surgery 3 weeks prior and I’ve got my neurological stuff to top it all off). I’m on day 8 of quarantine with a fever that continues to linger. Because of my pneumonia, that extends my quarantine to 21 days. This continued isolation has caused many tears. I’m thankful for the medical staff who are helping me recover, but this loneliness is dragging my soul down pretty low. It’s also given me a lot of time to think and reflect.
As I’ve been holed away from my husband and kids, I’ve realized something big. I miss the little things. I miss the tiny expressions of love that I’m currently unable to give or receive due to this dreaded sickness. Once I’m out of this COVID prison, my first actions won’t be to try to make more money, to look at purchasing a nicer vehicle, to update my wardrobe, or to figure out how to make my home more impressive. I’ll be rushing to hug Brent and the kids so tightly that they question whether I’m ever going to let go. I’ll be jumping at the first opportunity give them so many kisses that they have more than enough to make up for all of the days I couldn’t physically shower them with love. My focus will be toward things like simply sitting next to them, to be present with them, to soak up every second with them.
As my COVID progressed last week, my oxygen level began to drop and I had to go to the ER to get checked out. Luckily, my pneumonia was just in the beginning stages and I was able to come home that night. But this virus is so unpredictable, I had no way of knowing what would happen once I took that lonely journey through those hospital doors. The hardest part was that I couldn’t kiss Brent or my kids goodbye, I couldn’t hug them tightly, I couldn’t be anywhere near them and I didn’t know what I would face once I left them behind. It was in that moment that I realized how much I take these little things for granted and how much I will cherish them more when, God willing, my health is restored.
I’m still fighting this horrible thing and I’m praying it’s over soon. While I don’t know how long this will last, I do know that I’ve become hyper aware of how big the little things are. I’m thankful for a shift in perspective. It’s easy to naturally lose sight of what truly matters as we get lulled by the rhythmic patterns of this life. Take stock in the little things, friends. Don’t let time slip by without appreciating just how important they really are. This life is a vapor and nothing is promised. Don’t overlook what matters most - faith in Christ, hope in however the Lord allows our story to play out, and love that is given to us and by us. The Bible says the greatest of these three concepts is LOVE and I feel that more deeply now than I ever have in my life. I’ve never been more anxious to get to intentionally show love again through direct contact. I never thought I’d live in a world where showing physical love would become a privilege. My family and I, we will continue to get creative in our ways of loving each other as I heal, but the minute I break free you better believe we will break some sort of record for non-social distanced expressions of affection. Love is built into our human nature, and I have felt this so intensely over the past week. Let us not waste our lives by overlooking it.
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13