With a little over a week into self-quarantine, I’ve been jotting down notes in my journal of all the processing. What a time to be alive! The whole world is in this together and we will come out on the other side of this a different people. There will be before and there will be after. I’m determined to make the most of this opportunity. The world is shutting down and not figuratively, so if there’s ever been a time to retreat, to pause, to ponder and reflect on how we’re living our days, it’s now. So here’s a few thoughts I’ve been pondering from week one of #corona #quarantinelife. I’d love to hear if these resonate or what week one looked like for you!

1. YOU’RE DETOXING. This first week felt like the first three days of a cleanse. Agitated, uncomfortable, comforts removed, and very unaware of how I was feeling amidst it all. Often times on a cleanse I’ll find myself feeling feelings I’ve never felt (or rarely), on edge, and I have to remind myself I’m detoxing. Don’t make decisions in a detox. Your mind, body and soul are bringing things to the surface to get rid of now that there’s capacity to do so. And while this detox may feel more mind and heart, your body is feeling all the feels too. Drink lots of water. Eat greens and nutrient rich foods and supplements to support the cleaning out. Move! Exercise and get outside. Snd remember, this will pass.

2. TRADE WISELY. Don’t simply trade one form of busyness for another. Where you find gaps of stillness, sit there. If what use to comfort and entertain you has been removed, pause and acknowledge the space and choose wisely how you fill it. If God works all things to our good, then this too has good in it. Choose to see the good. See the gift hidden in the disruption. There are hundreds and thousands of people in need, get creative in how you can love others.

3. RE-ALIGN YOUR HOPE. Lots of people are stockpiling and hoarding out of fear of “what if”. Many are avoiding anyone and anything to stay safe and control their environment. I’ve personally wrestled with both and what it looks like to prepare with wisdom, but not walk in fear. A few days ago I asked God how I was to prepare. The bottom line is I knew I would never have enough money to buy enough food to feel safe and secure. I couldn’t buy safety and security. And I realized I was really trying to buy peace. My hope was misaligned. My hope wasn’t in Jesus. My hope was in me and my ability to plan and prepare. To know enough information and to control as much as I could. The truth I was leaving out was that regardless of job or money or home or family, God is a good Father who takes care of his kids. Hundreds are losing jobs right now and He will provide. Hundreds don’t know where their next meal will come from and He will provide. He cares for the sparrow, how much more will he care for you and I?

Jesus and his disciples left jobs, left homes, left family and confronted disease, brokenness, those with much and those with little, and put their hope and trust in God who was more than able to supply all their needs according to His riches in glory. And the antidote for this epidemic is faith, the substance of things hoped for. Where is your confident expectation of good placed? Where is it anchored?

Those are my takeaways from week 1. What are yours? Who will you be when this is all over?