40 days and 40 nights: Walking the Pandemic Desert

Your work, home, activities, and ways of being in relationships all shifted from the comfort of predictability. You felt alone, unsafe or in harms way. You couldn’t be with loving friends or family members. You weren’t allowed to use other indoor or outdoor places. Groups or communities that help your mind, body, spirit and soul were prevented from meeting. You couldn’t touch or be touched., needed to speak through a mask or screen, kept from breathing freely and forced to stay at a physical distance from others. You grew unstable, needing physical, mental, emotional, or moral support. It was like being thirsty in a dry, personal desert. You were tested.

And then you began to hear voices. One started softy and grew louder, dominating the other voices in your head. At first, it seemed to have faith in you:

“You can do this,” it consoled. “It’s no big deal. You have everything you need to survive this, You’ve got this.”

It was a tempting voice and you wanted to believe it.

It grew stronger. “C’mon! You are not going to fail. You are better than that. Try harder. Do more.” You grew dizzy and confused. You pushed it away.

”Listen,” it said. “You want to succeed, don’t you?. You want to rise to the top of this and be better for it, right? Think about your reputation and EVERYONE who will admire you, who will want to be like you. You want this. Believe me”

And then, a new voice spoke up: “Hey! Stop it,” you heard yourself say. “I’m not God, a perfect and all-knowing being. I’m just human, doing the best I can in a desert life.”

The tempting voice leaves you, you exhale. and your whole body relaxes. You sit down in the desert, remembering the truth and the limits of who you are. Not with super powers, but with the helpful voices of angels, you ‘re reminded of who knows you and loves you, who always travels with you, wherever you go.“

What are the voices that you hear in this pandemic? Where do they come from?

Which voices do you listen to? follow? Which do you trust?

Matthew 4

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. 3 The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,

‘One does not live by bread alone,
    but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written,

‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
    and ‘On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”

7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; 9 and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written,

‘Worship the Lord your God,
    and serve only him.’”

11 Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.