“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” (Colossians 3:12)
During these most uncertain times we are all living in currently due to COVID-19, I’ve definitely noticed an increase in negative behaviors amongst us all. We all seem to be living on edge, waiting with baited breath for the next ball to drop on us so to speak. With the news constantly having so very little positive information to give us, it’s been challenging to see any light at the end of the tunnel. No one really knows how long this whole pandemic is going to last and the longer people remain out of work, forced to remain at home, with very little to do, and no money coming in, the more it seems as if these negative behaviors are on the rise. Behaviors that include being unkind, arguing, demeaning, blaming, selfish, hoarding, judging, and impatient.
Look, I know how easy it is to point the finger and say any of those negative behaviors is only because of these uncertain times. Just as much as I know how easy it is to point the finger in general at someone or something else and place the blame elsewhere. But, what’s not so easy is pointing the finger at ourselves and taking a hard look at our own behaviors. Because neither the mayor of our towns, nor the governors of our states, nor the congressman and senators from where we live, nor our president or any of his administration are in charge of how we act and what we say or do.
It is all of our jobs to help make this difficult time a more bearable one by being more compassionate, kind, humble, gentle, and patient with each other. But blaming this pandemic crisis on our negative behaviors or blaming them on all those who are in some level of political power handling this crisis isn’t a valid reason for any of us to act negatively towards each other.
Because when it comes right on down to it, once this whole COVID-19 pandemic is over, any person who has been pointing the finger away from themselves this whole time as to why they’ve been negatively acting the way they have, is only going to transfer the blame for their negative behaviors onto someone or something else all over again.
The bottom line is that COVID-19, Donald Trump, our government, those who aren’t responding to this crisis in the way we think they should be responding, or anyone or anything else are not valid reasons to treat any single person in any way we wouldn’t want to be treated ourselves. We all need to stop blaming everyone else for our negative behaviors during these most challenging times, and instead work hard to show each other the compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience we ourselves would want and deserve to receive in return.
God, I pray that You help me to overcome any of my negative behaviors and help me instead to be more compassionate, kind, humble, gentle, and patient with everyone I come across, even when I may struggle to feel those things myself.
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
