What I Took for Granted and What I Can Never Find

The coronavirus pandemic has done strange things to my life. I would guess that most of you reading this could say the same thing, but maybe in different ways than me. Because we homeschool, our school situation has not changed very much in the last couple months. We missed out on the last few weeks of our Classical Conversations Community Days, which was sad, but ultimately didn’t have a huge impact on our daily routine. The kids and I don’t go shopping together once a week anymore; instead, I go once every other week by myself. (Maybe I’m not so sad about this one!) We don’t meet at the play center at the YMCA with friends, and we haven’t gone to the park since the weather became warm and sunny again. We have, however, continued to go to a marshy place not far from our house and to the bike trails that overlook the river. We smile at people as they walk by, and then continue on our stroll. No extra chatting with nice people we meet and no getting too close to other walkers.

Before the pandemic began, I definitely took a few things for granted (probably more than that, but if I made an exhaustive list you’d be asleep by the end). Here they are, in random order.

Milk: We keep whole milk on hand for Ruthie and one percent on hand for everyone else. Because we go shopping less often than we used to, sometimes we run out of one or the other before we go shopping again. With limited shopping trips, I get really excited when we have both milks in the fridge ready to serve.

Fresh Fruit and Vegetables: Before the stay-at-home-orders, I bought enough fresh product to last us for a week. That’s about all it seemed to last in the fridge anyways. Since the pandemic began, we’ve mostly had fresh fruit and veggies for one week, followed by a week of frozen produce until I go shopping again. I thank the Lord for smoothies and flash-freezing technology, and I also for tasty fresh foods!

Hugs: If you know me well, this one will make you laugh. I do not like getting hugged by people I don’t know well. Well, even if we’re new friends, you can hug me from now on.

Talking to Strangers: I can strike up a conservation with pretty much anyone. Yesterday at the grocery store, I had a conversation with someone as we both tried to get something out of the dairy case at the same time. We smiled and laughed through our masks, but it just wasn’t the same. I miss chatting with the people around me.

For a while, everyone talked about how toilet paper went missing from the store shelves faster than you could put on a face mask. I think the equilibrium between toilet paper supply and demand has finally returned to a somewhat normal state, but I have noticed a few items I can never seem to find at my usual shopping places.

Organic Macaroni and Cheese: My kids love Annie’s Mac and Cheese. I used to buy the eight-pack from Sam’s Club or a couple generic boxes a week at Aldi. Now, I can’t find either one. It’s been that way for almost a month! We just eat more tri-colored rotini with a butter and olive oil mixture, but we do miss our usual organic mac-and-cheese day.

Band-Aids: We ran out of Band-Aids about a week ago. Apparently, so did everyone else. I’m just hoping nobody gets hurt. We can always cut up a few old shirts movie-style if we need to.

Frozen Stir-Fry Vegetable Mixes: Brian makes really delicious stir fry with a bag of frozen stir-fry vegetables, some extra seasonings, and chicken. This healthy meal is a favorite of our kids, too, and it can be hard to find a meal that everyone likes. Ruthie favors the sugar snap peas, and Samuel favors the mini-corns. I like the crunchy water chestnuts the best. I wonder with this one if maybe I keep shopping on the days right before stores get their weekly shipments in. Or maybe pandemics make people like stir fry more. Either way, this one missing from store shelves seems stranger to me than the other two!

I hope I appreciate all of these things more after the pandemic subsides. God provides for us every day, even if we don’t get exactly what we want. Sometimes, its better that way! We can trust in His sovereign knowledge and care over our lives, what we need and what we want; what we think we don’t need and what we don’t want, but might get anyways. God does command us to “give thanks in all circumstances.” [1] We can always find God’s blessings in our lives. They may look completely different than we thought or hoped they would, but we can be sure they are all present and accounted for by our loving Heavenly Father. We can even find them in the midst of a global pandemic.

These strange times call our attention to the one truth that will never change: God is with us and remains the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is “infinite, eternal, and unchangeable.” [2] Even when we can’t find things like macaroni and cheese, band-aids, or frozen stir-fry veggies, we can find hope in Jesus Christ, our Savior, forever.

[1] 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
[2] Westminster Catechism Q&A 4