Sharpening Your Saw: Body, Mind, Spirit & Soul
On Friday, March 13, 2020, I went to the grocery store. Friday was not my shopping week, but I received a text from my husband that read something like this: “You and Lauren should go shopping there’s a 14-day shutdown.” The week before, I’d already purchased two bags of frozen shrimp two bags of BOCA ground, frozen broccoli, a can of baked beans and corn, and four boxes of coffee pods. And two pints of fresh olives. These were extra items.
So, on Friday, March 13, 2020, after receiving the text, Lauren, my seventeen-year-old and I, set off once again for the grocery store. We usually have a routine. We shop separately and then meet at the ice cream section. I spend most of my time in the vegetable and cheese aisle. At the ice cream section, she loads her food into my cart. Next, we decide which ice cream to buy. If there’s a sale, we indulge. But on Friday, March 13, 2020, we pushed one cart. We shopped together. We did not rush or panic. At one point, we separated. Lauren found me in the bread aisle, buying more coffee, and talking with strangers.
We were strangers talking about our concerns: the panic, the coronavirus, the college students on the beach, a sick child at home, a husband working in the hospital. But most importantly, the three of us acknowledge we needed to be a community as we watched the people zoom up and down the aisle filling their shopping carts. Not a smile or a hello.
We said good-bye and offered blessings. I bought coffee beans. I stopped buying coffee beans once I had a Keurig. Fresh ground French Press coffee is delicious. French Press coffee takes time and patience. I woke up earlier and moved slower when I ground the beans, boiled water, and then merged them. With a Keurig, there was less cleanup, and pushing a button offered more time.
But in reality, I had an internal panic. My mind raced with images of apocalyptic, holocaust, depression, and slavery movies, and books I’d read from The Book of Eli, The Book of Negroes, Three Percent to Mad Max, and Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower. And coffee beans seemed to be the ideal survival staple along with extra bags of frozen foods. I’m not a fan of canned tuna, but I bought five cans.
After loading the car with our groceries, I decided to drive to another store. Inside this store, I bought another can of corn and black beans along with corn polenta. I couldn’t shake this survival mode. I’d been trapped in a snowstorm for three days. I’ve been without water and electricity for forty-eight hours, but being shut in for 14-days seemed eerie. I could see movie images with humans eating out of cans, and barren cabinets, and empty grocery shelves. I could see pictures of depression times when there was no food.
Then I went to another store: glazed donuts and frozen blueberries. I love blueberries with Farro, on top of pistachio ice cream, or baked in a pear cobbler. I rarely ate donuts, but today I wanted glazed.
Finally, I stood in my kitchen unpacking, repacking, storing, and stocking when I realized, I should have bought olives. At the olive station, there were no fresh olives. I repeated it when my husband came home from work: “I should have bought olives in a jar or a can.”
He said, “I’m sure we have enough.”
And I remembered 2 Corinthians 12: 8-10. Apostle Paul writes about his plea for the Lord to remove the thorn from his side. The Lord’s response: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
My weakness not being prepared. Not being organized. And fresh olives were a part of the salad I made for my husband’s lunch. Fresh olives, freshly baked bread, hummus, cheese, apples, and cucumbers were a Friday night meal with wine and music. Fresh olives were my middle of the day snack.
But I remembered, in this crisis, through this crisis, and after this crisis, God’s grace is sufficient, his grace is enough, His grace is all we need. God’s power, his strength is perfect in our weakness. And Christ’s power rests on us.
What about you? What is your weakness in this crisis?
Until next time,
God’s Peace Be Upon You
Thank you for sharing how important His strength is to all of us now!
Indeed, his strength is most important for us now.