Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit” — yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” James 4:13–15
Today, my daughter asked me if she could go over to a friend’s house “when COVID’s over.” I said, “Of course!”
Thankfully, she didn’t ask when that would be. If she had, she wouldn’t have gotten the response, “I don’t know.”
This is what the pandemic has given us: less certainty than ever before in a culture that takes certainty as a given.
My heart went out to my daughter. Going over to a friend’s house is such a small thing. I’m not sure it will happen with this particular friend given her distance from us and the rapidly approaching date of our daughter’s preschool graduation.
Life is precious. I don’t want to take any of the small graces God has given me for granted.
My daughter’s request is one such grace. I’m glad she has a friend she’d like to hang out with outside school. That’s a good thing. I thank God for every good thing He gives, and I pray for a spirit that is more attuned to His will, one that not only takes Him into consideration but begins with Him.
So, the next time my daughter asks if she can to her friend’s house “when COVID’s over,” she’ll get the response, “Lord willing, sweetheart. Lord willing.”