A Time to Wait

Day 40: Saturday, April 11, 2020

Holy Saturday, the day between Good Friday and Easter, has always seemed to me to be Silent Saturday, a time of waiting between the worst day in the world and the best day in the world. We don’t get to skip the day; we have to wait through the 24 hours with nothing to observe, nothing to know, nothing to do but wait.

We are also living in a time of waiting today. We are waiting for everyone in the world to get better, for people to stop dying, for everything to get back to normal. But just as we can’t skip this “silent” Saturday in Holy Week, we can’t skip this in-between time, this time between before coronavirus and after coronavirus. We have to go through it.

And how do we go about this task of “going through it”?

When I asked myself this question, all kinds of answers, in no particular order of importance came to my mind:

Pray

Take care of ourselves

Take care of each other

Pay attention—to everything—the news, fake and not fake; experts; neighbors; friends; church leaders

Stay distant from one another; be friendly from afar

Go to a virtual church service

Use technology to keep involved in groups to which you belong (I’m loving my book discussion group, my memoir writing class, my church board, and my family chat that are possible because of zoom and other platforms)

Get in touch with people that you have not contacted for a long time

Sleep

Read books

Write something about your own life

Write your reflections about this in-between time

Write notes or postcards or letters—and send them through snail mail

Clean out closets, desks, bookshelves, pantries

Take walks

Make something—bake a dessert or bread, paint a picture, sew a mask

Find out who in your community needs help and find a way to help those people

Practice your faith through meditation, prayer, acts of kindness

Plan for the future (I’m going to have to plan a great trip, even if it’s two years away)

Think positive thoughts

Hope

So, it’s been quite a different Lenten season than I have ever experienced before. I’m sure you can say the same thing. I am glad that the time of Lent intersected with this pandemic’s fiercest weeks so far. I’ve been held steady in my times of fear and doubt, recognizing that just as the Lenten season leads to the Easter season, this season of fear and doubt will lead to relief and normalcy—we just have to wait.