2020 has been quite the ride, but as we navigate into the future, hope will steer us forward.
I am sure that the pandemic has impacted everyone’s life in one way or another. I can’t imagine anyone oblivious to the repercussions of the restrictions that society has had to undertake to keep healthy, maintain a sense of normalcy when nothing at all seems normal, provide for their households when the work is gone and still remain optimistic in it all.
My heart especially goes out to our aged population living in seniors’ residences, many on their own without anyone to hold them and assure them that things will be ok. They are left in their own small world and told to stay in their rooms without any social stimulation or encouragement; quite different than the single folk out there in society who are allowed to join another family for a total of five. And may I add, they aren’t as resilient as the young and may not have the days, weeks or months to spare to live through it all.
As I have previously mentioned before, my mother passed away in June and albeit her health was deteriorating and she was quite fragile, I believe she lost hope because of the lack of attention and physical contact that she was used to from her loving family. From March onward, no one was allowed into our folks’ suite in the full-care facility to see them, only occasional fence visits with a bird’s eye view at best. For that I blame COVID for stealing her from us.
Now my concern is for dad. In September he moved into an independent living seniors’ residence with the ability to socialize and adapted very well to his new surroundings. That made us especially optimistic that he would rebound well as he thrives on being able to shoot the breeze with others, is generally optimistic and good-natured. But again, COVID is stealing this senior’s wellbeing, leaving him almost in a state of hopelessness as he still grieves for the loss of his wife of 65 years without any hands-on support. Christmas Day will be exactly six months since mom passed away. He has not been able to venture out of his three room suite for almost a month, alone and isolated from the world except for his phone/FacetTme conversations with family.
This is a grievous situation for us all but in it all, our hope is in the Christ child that was born in Bethlehem so long ago. Whether we live or we die, our eternal hope is that we can put our trust in Him to keep us, whatever the situation may be.
And in whatever situation you may find yourself, my hope is that the gift that God gave the world that first Christmas will give you hope to keep-on-keeping on to better days ahead.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
