a blessing for the cost of continuing to care

Oh God, this pandemic is eclipsing more of our lives as the year unfolds,
and caring well is going to cost us

Oh God sustain us.  
help us bear the cost of kindness when it keeps us apart

God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.

Love always protects, always trusts,
always hopes, always perseveres.
1 Corinthians 13:7

God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.

Blessed are we,
weary from the complicated math of this continuing pandemic,
bone-tired from trying to understand what we have to do,
how we need to pivot
to manage our lives,
and take care of each other.

Blessed are we, adjusting our eyes to the light of this new normal,
realizing that as one season has blended into the next,
there are coming decisions we hoped we would never have to make.
We are in this for the long haul.

Blessed are we, living in this strange new space, the liminality
between what used to be, and what now is,
between what used to be possible, and what now isn’t.
we are adjusting, adjusting, adjusting,
and reality has sat us down and told us plainly
that things have changed.
we are starting to understand.

Blessed are we, willing to start the hard conversations, do the long division,
and begin the slow thinking about the holidays, and those most vulnerable.

Blessed are we who understand
that kindness can’t look the same this year, can’t feel the same,
but it still counts as love. Ever so much.
It’s in the eyes of the family members sharing virtual feasts,
in the faces of nurses who register relief when they see someone wearing a mask,
and in the relaxed hello of neighbors when people wave, but keep their distance,
in the grateful body language of workers when people are respectful.

Blessed are we who choose kindness
until the storm passes.

God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.

Take a deep breath. help is coming.
just do what is gently possible.

“love is patient; love is kind.”
1 Corinthians 13:4