What Do I Miss (pre-pandemic) An Allegory

Sand tickles bare feet; 

Sand shifts; 

I tip sideways; arms fling wide. 

Waves crash; waves suck in sand;

I brace my body, 

I brace its watermelon-shaped abdomen. 

Waves pull me under;

I gurgle—spit saltiness.  

Waves tumble me-over-and-over;

I gasp! Help  

Pandemic. What’s new? Masks, social-distancing, senior store hours, gloves, wash hands, repeat. Online classes, online church, online relationships. That’s what’s new to me. My worldview, not too much.

I have always known the shifting sands. I know the shifting sand of moving, changing jobs, changing churches, changing countries, changing states, changing relationships, you get the picture.

I miss the face to face encounters at church, especially serving communion. I miss the face to face encounters in my writing classes. What I do like is; our church services seem more intimate, and I also feel I’m getting to know my classmates better through their stories because of the smaller class size. But what I do miss is, hearing everyone’s story who’s not able to attend since this “shift in the sand” pandemic. 

What I don’t miss is the distance and time it takes to travel to both my church and my  class. We save on gas, wear and tear on the car, and time. But, I see more of our classmates isolating because of issues with technology or situations; and that is sad.

The “shifting sands” of the world that I see are: Politics, world leaders, economies, disasters, tragedies, knowledge and technology, and now the pandemic that is presently affecting our world. They threaten to knock me off my feet. This lack of control threatens my security, my sameness, my routines, my children and grandkids livelihoods, and my opinions. 

From personal experience I can say that my opinions have pulled me in more than anything. Always changing, always shifting. always being knocked down and humbled. The truth, (which to me is Jesus) never changes.

I thank God when I called out to Him, the Eternal One, He took me out of danger and set my feet on solid ground. He is my Rock. Let the sands of this world’s kingdoms shift as they will. I pray His kingdom comes into our broken world and more people look to the Rock that will never shift.