Quarantine

    Over the past few days, I have been in quarantine.  I have learned some valuable lessons in the process.  First,  isolation is not natural.  We are social beings and we need close connections and daily interactions to maintain wholeness and emotional health.  The first man was isolated — God created Eve. Family was designed to create even more social interaction.  Men gather in villages, towns, and cities to further meet the emotional need to be with people.  When Father God designed “church” He did so with the dynamic of frequent gathering as an essential aspect of what makes church, church.  The enemy isolates, the Father gathers for interaction.

   A second lesson is that people matter.  I tend to make life about a lot of other things, but ultimately it is people that genuinely matter.  Being away from people helps me see the value of people.  Sometimes I isolate from others unintentionally, but the consequences are the same.  We are designed to share life together, deepening intimacy over time.  If I do not give myself to this process in intentionality, I find myself distancing myself from others.  I must fight the natural tendency of self-sufficiency, invite others into my life, and do life with others regularly.

   My Covid quarantine will end soon.  Hopefully, I won’t let these days of separation continue to negatively effect the way I must relate to others.