Information is changing so quickly it's hard to keep up on the latest news from the White House. Local city and county officials have closed their doors to foot traffic, which limits access to finding answers on a community level. Schools are closing and sending students home to their parents who have no idea what to do with them because there was no time to prepare. Businesses are being forced to close their doors and employees are being furloughed or "let go" as business owners await solutions to the problems created by politicians responding to the Coronavirus outbreak. No one knows what the future will bring, so we brace ourselves for the worst. We sit at home, glued to the television, and fearfully watch and wait...and wait...and wait.
Truth and love cast out all fear.
Since January 20, 2020, when the first outbreak was reported in the United States, 66 people have died from the Coronavirus. In comparison, nearly 1.25 million people die in road crashes each year, on average 3,287 deaths a day.
There are two things we can do while we wait for the next directives to come from above (government not God), we can be Confident and Optimistic: Confident that we will be okay at the end of this, and remain Optimistic that the number of deaths will remain low.
Confidence is an internal emotion that results from knowing the truth and the truth is found in the numbers. Math doesn't lie. The facts are the facts and no amount of emotion or hype will change the facts. It might feel like death is everywhere, but it's not true. You have a bigger chance of being killed in a car crash than you do of being killed by the Coronavirus. Have confidence that even if you are healthy and you do contract the virus your chance of survival is over 98%. Having a positive outlook will help you heal and recover so stay confident of that.
Optimism is defined by Dictionary.com as, "Hopefulness and confidence about the future or the successful outcome of something." We don't know what will happen in the future and the news media loves to paint an end-times scenario that drives fear and keeps the ratings up as people glue themselves to the news channels. But, again, the truth is what you need to look at in order to remain optimistic. I mean look at the BEST case scenario: People get healthy and return to work. There's enough toilet paper on the shelves for everyone, and schools reopen and work resumes. DANG...that's not as exciting as the coronavirus is going to kill everyone! So no one is going to be watching the news and they will once again binge their favorite programs, play X-Box, and do their homework. BOOOOOOORING!
So, look to the truth, remain confidently optimistic and in all things thank God for your health and the health of your family.
“It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.”
Psalm 118:8
Day 59: Confident