Dear Reader:

As mind-boggling as the scary news continues to be in this country over this rapidly growing coronavirus pandemic… I have, also, begun to realize that if we can  readjust our mindset to living each moment of each day in love, compassion, and kindness… we can replace fear with hope.

The two title photos deal with the groceries and later supper I made from them last evening…given to me by Luke and Chelsey. This young couple has its act together…going around helping others while they are out of work instead of spending their free time worrying about their own financial future. They represent the hope of tomorrow…both are filled with compassion, kindness, and love. They spread their arms open to help instead of wasting time and energy finger-pointing.

They have developed a new mindset….seeing the potential in quotes like Jack Konfield’s on how to start looking at life differently:

“The virus isn’t happening to us; it’s happening for us.” It’s amazing how one little preposition can change our entire outlooks.

We have been given a chance to start over with a brand new world…a world that puts humans lives over greed and monetary gains, prayers over fears, acceptance of diversity over accusations of blame and guilt.

I witnessed other acts of  personal kindness yesterday…a Fed-Ex package arrived filled with my oral chemo medicine…sent by my oncology center (and my pharmacist friends who work there) so I wouldn’t have to risk coming in to get it with a friendly support note from them.

Vickie brought me the most delicious supper Tuesday night and then yesterday she caught me playing with the fairies in the garden and this time she had lemon squares for me. ***I am scared to get on the scales. 🙂

Now you see why I am so blessed!

***Brother Richard Hendrick, a Capuchin Franciscan living in Ireland, has penned a touching poem about coronavirus. He wrote it on March 13 and it has gone viral ever since. The resonance of this poem mirrors humanity’s boundless capacity to love.

Yes there is fear.
Yes there is isolation.
Yes there is panic buying.
Yes there is sickness.
Yes there is even death.
But,

They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise
You can hear the birds again.
They say that after just a few weeks of quiet
The sky is no longer thick with fumes
But blue and grey and clear.
They say that in the streets of Assisi
People are singing to each other
across the empty squares,
keeping their windows open
so that those who are alone
may hear the sounds of family around them.

They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland
Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.
Today a young woman I know
is busy spreading fliers with her number
through the neighbourhood
So that the elders may have someone to call on.

Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples
are preparing to welcome
and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary
All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting
All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way

All over the world people are waking up to a new reality
To how big we really are.
To how little control we really have.
To what really matters.
To Love.

So we pray and we remember that
Yes there is fear.
But there does not have to be hate.
Yes there is isolation.
But there does not have to be loneliness.
Yes there is panic buying.
But there does not have to be meanness.
Yes there is sickness.
But there does not have to be disease of the soul
Yes there is even death.
But there can always be a rebirth of love.
Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.
Today, breathe.

Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic
The birds are singing again
The sky is clearing,
Spring is coming,
And we are always encompassed by Love.
Open the windows of your soul
And though you may not be able
to touch across the empty square,
Sing.

– Fr. Richard Hendrick, OFM
March 13th 2020

So until tomorrow...Breathe!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh