6′ of Hope

That’s me in the blue sweatshirt, hugging my friend Alison, just a few weeks after they diagnosed her 5 year old daughter with leukemia. Her world has been upside down and social distancing since Christmas. The rest of the world is catching up with the understanding that our germs might harm someone else who can’t handle them.

I’m a hugger, and the thought of not hugging people anymore is really making me so sad. I was honestly having a hard time this afternoon and got a little weepy. It made me think about the studies they did with orphan babes and how the ones that had little to no human contact failed to thrive and eventually died. Everyone is supposed to isolate, especially old people, but what if they just kind of give up when they can’t have any visitors, any hugs, anyone to hold their hand and comfort them in loneliness? I hug almost everyone I know. Family? Definitely. Church friends? You betcha. Gym folks? Yeah, there’s a few I call friends and we hug.

What do we do now that all our hugs have to be jazz hands and peace signs and air hi-fives? 6′ might as well be 60 miles. I hugged my family as soon as I got home from work. After my sad thoughts this afternoon, I was physically aching for those hugs. What if the last time I hugged a friend a week ago turns out to be truly the last time?

Our world is so broken and we value the wrong things. We love money and freedom and independence too much. We think just because we are Americans, we can do whatever we want. We take for granted restaurants, fully stocked grocery stores, and safe public spaces. It has shocked me to see the panic and greed. The empty store shelves are just too spooky. I’ve also seen amazing stories of generosity and goodwill. The funny thing about social media and the internet is that you can find whichever you’re looking for. I hope that we as a nation will figure out that our hope has to come from somewhere other than money, out of touch government leaders, spoon fed news anchors, or the fearful general public.

In Matthew 6:19-21 Jesus said

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” 

I’m sad for people displaced from jobs, it’s early days to know just how economically devastating this will be. It’s weird with all the schools closed, but there are other ways for kids to learn. I have two boys, one a senior who doesn’t know if he’ll get to graduate, and another whose spring break DC/NYC trip is cancelled along with everything else. And what about church? Greeting time is now an exchange of Hi’s and smileys in the live stream chat. There is more to life than the amount of TP and pasta in our cupboards. And friends, we are more than our occupations and the things we own. Our hope has to come from Christ, He is our source of identity and love and redemption.

In John 15:13 Jesus said,

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

And He would know, because He did it. He died for us, to cure us of sin and bring us back to God. We can never be good enough to earn heaven, but we can have His great love, it’s a free gift, and we can show great love to one another. Love is the treasure.

What if that means “social distancing” for a time? What if that means giving up freedom, giving up money, and even giving up hugs? Then that’s what we do. Because if I truly love you it means I can still love you from over here, 6′ away, with jazz hands and silly memes and text messages and facetime calls. I will miss hugs, but if you know me, look again at that photo, and know that I wish I could give you that hug right now. If you are alone and afraid of what the world is becoming, take that hug in the pic and claim it as your own. Let’s spread hope, love, joy and peace, not germs and definitely not fear.

I want to leave you with this super encouraging scripture from the Apostle Paul in Romans 8:38-39, (think of it as a hug from God.)

“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Thanks for reading. If you have a story of generosity and hope, please share it in the comments.  If you’d like to get in touch, you can email me at curatedfaith@gmail.com. I post pretty sporadically, but if you’d like to keep up with the blog, you can sign up for my newsletter here or follow me on social media.

Image was used by permission of tpowerPhoto. You can find her on Instagram.

If you have a heart to help Alison’s daughter in her fight against leukemia, you can read more and support the Piro family here.