Do you remember the children’s game “Leapfrog”? When was the last time you played it? If it’s been too long (or you never played it), you can watch a YouTube video to learn how! The cool thing about leapfrog is that you go from the back of the line to the front without ever stopping in-between. I think I am ready for a game of that right now.
I would like to “leapfrog” past this entire pandemic and have life get back to how it used to be. I want to be free of masks and social distancing. I want to be free from fear of infection and from so many people dying. Hop, hop … hop, hop … however many hops it takes to be all past it all.
And then I watched the YouTube video again and I realized something. In the game of Leapfrog, the jumps are always forward jumps, getting the jumper from the back to the front. And (ouch), the leaping I was dreaming of was in the opposite direction … back to how things used to be … moving away from the future to live in the past (double ouch)! This is a sure sign of grief, for in grief we mourn that things are not as we expect them to be … or as they have been in our dreamy past.
I believe that we, as a nation, are grieving. Things are not as we expect them to be, and we (this includes me and you) are going through all those same emotions. It starts with denial (“There is no pandemic”), followed by anger (have you seen any of that lately?). Then comes blaming (pick your target on the right or the left, up or down, it does not matter), which leads to depression (no description needed here). Healthy grieving then takes us to acceptance, the dawn of new hope and, finally, new life.
Unfortunately, grieving is seldom a straight progression from step one to seven. Rather, it is two steps forward and one step back, one step forward and two steps back. And, added to that is another factor: we do not all grieve at the same pace or in the same way. Wanting to play Leapfrog probably takes me all the way back to denial!
The prophet Jeremiah was given the task of leading God’s people of old through the grief they experienced in the Babylonian Exile (Their ‘pandemic’ lasted 70 years!). Listen to how he directs them (and us) toward acceptance, the dawn of new hope, and, finally, new life. “Thus says the Lord: ‘When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.’” (Jeremiah 29.10-14)
I believe the Lord our God has the same message for all of us. He is saying to us, “Yes, this pandemic is real. Yes, it hurts, and yes, your anger is going to be directed in many different (often surprising) ways. It will not be easy. However, know that through it all ‘I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord.’” In other words, he is present and active in our lives, growing acceptance, new hope … and a new brighter future.
However, as much as we may desire to “leapfrog” over all those steps in-between, God works health and maturity in us as we go through each one … without leaping over the words just above.
Leapfrog