What a difference a year can make
This month marks a year in which we have been dealing with COVID-19. As I think of the title of this article, I remember the song, “What a Difference a Day Makes,” and all I can say is “Wow, what a difference this year has made in all of our lives.” The death count is over 500,000, and there is no accurate number on how many people have been affected by this virus. We have seen so many changes in our daily lives. The things that were our priority have suddenly disappeared. What we thought to be important is not so important anymore. All of us have been affected in one way or another. Depression, loneliness and isolation, the fear of the unknown, anger, and resentment have set in, and some have even turned away from God.
As African Americans, we have been hit the hardest, which probably comes to no surprise, as we always find ourselves suffering the most. We are grateful for Dr. Stanford, of the Black Doctors COVID Consortium, who has sought not only to provide testing for the virus, but to also make the vaccine available. The work she and the Black Doctors have done is incredible. We wonder if we will ever get back to some semblance of normalcy. We must learn to adjust each and every day. We are grateful for technology that provides our worship services to be available on Facebook and YouTube, but it is not the same. We miss the fellowship with one another, the choirs singing, and people working together building up the body of Christ.
As spring approaches, we find ourselves wondering when this season will end, but despite all that has occurred, we are grateful to God for the dawning of a new day. The words of the Prophet Isaiah in chapter 43:19 gives us hope, for the Word reads, “For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.” Those words are relevant today.
We are encouraged by the availability of the vaccine. Medical science and research have given us a glimmer of hope, and prayerfully, when the vaccine becomes available in our community, we will take advantage of it and not walk in gloom and doom. We know without a shadow of a doubt that God’s tomorrow will be better than today. Yes, it has been a tough year, but we made it by the grace of God. We are still here, and God is still working miracles. Be encouraged, do not lose hope, but continue to trust in God. We have come this far by faith leaning on the Lord.
For many of us, this is a new experience we have never seen. However, history records this world and country having gone through numerous calamities and viruses, and God is still at work. Hold your head up and keep on moving. There is a better day ahead. There is nothing to be gained by living in gloom and doom, life will have so much more meaning when we put our trust and faith in God. I am glad to be alive and will not complain about wearing a mask or keeping a distance of six feet away. I am just grateful and thankful for each new day God sends my way. God has given us 24 hours each day; that is a gift from God.
March 2020 to March 2021 marks a year, but each day we have received God’s mercies. 365 days of mercies, for “morning by morning new mercies are ours to see.” Remember, in a few days, spring will come, the grass will turn green, the birds will sing, and the flowers will bloom, reminding us the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.
This is God’s world, and we are God’s people, so let us give Him thanks and live each day with the joy of the Lord as our strength. Take a deep breath, for the Word of God is clear, “Let everything that have breath, praise the Lord.”