DEMORALIZED, FRUSTRATED, WORN DOWN AND EXHAUSTED

 Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The Lord gives power to the faint,

abundant strength to the weak.

Though young men faint and grow weary,

and youths stagger and fall,

They that hope in the LORD will renew their strength,

they will soar on eagles’ wings;

They will run and not grow weary,

walk and not grow faint.”

Isaiah 40:28-31

OK! I have to say it! I am sick of this damned pandemic! I feel demoralized, frustrated, worn down and exhausted by it. I'm even sicker of the fact that my being sick of it is not doing one damned thing to change it! 

I understand that fact, but bear with me and let me just "let off some steam" for a minute. Screaming doesn't change much, but it does relieve the pressure inside the screamer! 

I have been keeping my head down, a privilege that only a retired person like myself has, but I am really tired of it. I am trying to take it out, in a healthy way, on my treadmill. Lately, however, I am even beginning to feel like a hamster in a cage on that stupid treadmill.  

Reading the news, it seems that other people are going the other way. They are taking it out on other people. Some are taking it out on each other at home in a growing number of reported cases of  domestic violence - spouse and child abuse.  

Others are so sick of what's going on in our country that they are taking to the streets, some peacefully and some violently. Some are so tired of waiting for change that they have quit caring if the promised light at the end of the tunnel ever comes, they are just sick of the tunnel. Others are sick and tired of others always being sick and tired and are fighting back. 

The longer this pandemic goes on (and it seems not to be letting up), the more frustrated and violent some people are becoming.  Others of us are just becoming more demoralized, frustrated, worn down and exhausted. Both situations worry me and make me feel like we am living in a pressure cooker with the burner turned to "high." 

We are in a very dangerous situation. This pandemic did not cause the other problems we are experiencing. It revealed them, exacerbated them and unleashed them. I am praying that cooler heads will prevail, but frankly I am worried that that might not be the case much longer. I hope that I am wrong.  

If you feel demoralized, frustrated, worn down and exhausted by this pandemic, you are not alone. We may not be able to stop it, but there is one thing we can do for certain and that is resist the temptation to make it worse. We need to find our peaceful center, our inmost calm, when we feel like we are losing it. We need to go back to that place where we can bask in God's love rather than wallow in our misery. To do that, we may need to restrict the amount of news we watch, get some exercise, play some calming music, go out into nature, read an inspiring book and find a good quiet place to pray. 

This pandemic has one important lesson to teach us and that lesson is this: we are not in charge! Maybe that's why so many act out in violence. They can not stand the thought that they are not in charge so they try to act as if they were!