One-a-Day...for the Heart: Quarantine
It’s like a grownup time-out. Being ordered to stay at home by government or medical authorities is a Type A Personality’s Alcatraz. I’m okay with it because I’m only partly Type A, but the Lord is flushing out the 100%-ers! Here’s what they look like, according to Healthline and Wikipedia: Type A people are outgoing, ambitious, rigidly organized, highly status-conscious, impatient, anxious, proactive, concerned with time management, competitive, highly focused on personal goals, dislike wasting time, likely to experience stress when faced with delays that affect success. Along come the Type B's…laid-back, relaxed, easygoing, do not experience stress when a to-do list becomes a to-don’t list, tend to spend time on creative pursuits, are not driven to complete school or work assignments.
We probably need both types to make the world work, however, most of us would agree that Alcatraz would have been a lot more bearable if all the inmates had been relaxed, easygoing, and happy to explore their creative side. Our Creator has a word for us all—Type A’s, B’s, C’s (detail-oriented, logical), D’s (cautious, stabilizing), and X’s (equal combinations of two types)—BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD, (Psalm 46:10). The MESSAGE version says, Attention! Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at Me, your High God, above politics, above EVERYTHING.
Whether you are quarantining because you have contracted the coronavirus disease or you were exposed to an infected person, you are staying at home. So here we are…can’t work, can’t shop, can’t visit, can’t eat out, can’t fill-in-the-blank. What we CAN do is step out of the traffic, and take a long, loving look at our High God…above EVERYTHING.
Even though much of the world has opened up after citywide lockdowns were ordered, social and economic traffic for much of the world has greatly slowed during this quarantine/stay-at-home season, so it should be easy to step out of it. If you’re still feeling driven and anxious to get moving, perhaps you’re uncomfortable taking a long, loving look at our High God.
Being still and waiting on the Lord can be awkward, especially if, until stay-at-home orders were issued, you filled every waking moment of the day with busyness, activity, goals, and projects. Don’t miss this opportunity of a government or medical-ordered, unprecedented cessation of activity to pray and spend time with the Lord. Your life will change! Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you! That’s a promise we’re reminded of in James 4:8. King David’s words in Psalm 17:6 are a sweet picture of our High God’s attentiveness to us, I am praying to You because I know You will answer, O God. Bend down and listen as I pray.
I decree this quarantine/stay-at-home time to be a divinely appointed PRAY-at-home time! Never stop praying. (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
© 2021, Chris Werre