Drawing A Pandemic

It is inevitable that a young child will occasionally have a bad dream.
Those dreams do not happen open.
However, when they happen, it is quite disconcerting.
Ask any mother who is awakened in the middle of the night and she will tell you.

Especially when the power is out because of a storm, a scary dream can seem even worse.
I would open the blinds so that the little bit of moonlight would shine into the room.
That little bit of light seemed to cast the bad dream into the shadows.
Into the shadows it went; right where it belonged.

My youngest daughter remembered her dreams.
She would often tell me about them the next morning.
Even as a pre-schooler, she would try to tell me what made her afraid.
I came up with an idea.

My youngest daughter loved to draw.
She always had a crayon or colored pencils in her hand.
She was a good little artist from an early age.
I used her love of drawing to combat a scary dreams.

She would try to tell me what her dream was about, but sometimes it was difficult.
I gave her some paper and a crayon.
I asked her to draw her dream.
I remember the morning this idea was first suggested to her.

She looked at me.
Her face brightened a bit.
She sat up at the kitchen island with the paper in front of her.
She began to draw.

After she finished her picture, I asked her to tell me about it.
She was able to point to things she had just drawn and put her scary dream into words.
Somehow seeing the dream drawn on paper, it did not seem as scary any more.
I suggested she crumple her scary dream drawing and throw it away.

That simple act meant so much.
She was throwing the scary dream into the trash.
She physically removed her scary dream and threw it away.
It was a powerful way to have power over her dream.

My youngest daughter is now in her 20’s.
She still draws all the time.
It is her creative outlet.
It allows her to capture moments and ideas digitally or on canvas.

The world is in the midst of a pandemic.
We are constantly being bombarded with information that changes every day.
Sometimes the information changes every hour.
It is overwhelming.

The severity of the virus around the world makes it difficult to think of much else.
It has affected our way of life in every possible way.
Even for seasoned adults, this is a difficult time.
The pandemic will one day be taught as part of world history, once we get to the other side.

My granddaughters do not know what is swirling around them.
All they know is that they are with their mommy and daddy and they are safe.
We adults know the severity of the virus.
We are called to protect our children and grandchildren both physically and emotionally.

How do we help our young adults?
They are old enough to realize the global scope of the virus.
They are wise enough to understand the rules and limits that have been placed on us.
However, despite the world at their fingertips at any moment, they are now confined.

They are now called to remain at home.
They are now called to work remotely.
They are now forced to be still and content within four walls.
They are being called to be other centered while they lay their own desires aside.

They are not alone in that calling.
Without years of experience under their belt, they are trying to make sense of all of this.
They are seeing numbers of infections and numbers of deaths.
They are being confronted with their own mortality at an age when it a fleeting thought.

So, my daughter drew a picture.
She drew the picture digitally.
With a stylus, she put her thoughts and feelings into her drawing.
With a tablet and stylus, she drew her thoughts on the pandemic.

I was amazed.
Her drawing captured what we all are experiencing now.
Yet, even though she did not negate the death and destruction, she drew HOPE.
The focal point of her drawing is HOPE.

That should be our focal point as well.
There is always HOPE when we know that God is in control.
There is always HOPE when we know that God’s restraining hand is over us.
There is always HOPE because there is God.

But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 40:31)

We are experiencing a time like none of us have ever seen.
God is in control.
God is sovereign over everything, most especially this pandemic.
God can be, and must be, trusted.

There is nothing–no circumstance, no trouble, no testing–that can ever touch me until, first of all, it has gone past God and past Christ right through to me. If it has come that far, it has come with a great purpose, which I may not understand at the moment. But as I refuse to become panicky, as I lift up my eyes to Him and accept it as coming from the throne of God for some great purpose of blessing to my own heart, no sorrow will ever disturb me, no circumstance will cause me to fret, for I shall rest in the joy of what my Lord is–that is the rest of victory! (Alan Redpath)

 

2 responses to “Drawing A Pandemic”

1. Thank you Gina. This is helpful. We can actually rejoice in the opportunity to serve others by denying ourselves if we choose to. Stay well

   Reply

   • Thank you, Paula.
     You stay well, too!
     Gina

     Reply