This Easter, the human spirit rallies
Easter Sunday looks very different this year. Churches are empty as congregants worship via online services. Easter egg hunts have been canceled except for a couple of drive-thru opportunities for candy-filled eggs. No need for those new spring dresses and duds. Big family gatherings are on hold.
We haven’t been this isolated for Easter perhaps since the 1918 influenza pandemic that also shut down society for a while. This year, we’re missing our extended families and friends. We’re longing for our old lives.
Yet the ancient message of Easter remains no matter what our circumstances are during this coronavirus containment. Christians today are celebrating the resurrection of a savior who promises eternal life to believers. And whatever you believe, there is a renewed sense of spirituality that seems to be settling into our communities. Some say society needed to slow down, the earth needed a chance for rebirth, we ourselves needed to put our lives into perspective. Perhaps those observations are truer than we’d like to admit.
What we’re witnessing here in the Flathead over the past several weeks has been an astounding outpouring of kindness doled out in so many ways. Those with the financial means have stepped up in a big way to help our health-care workers, first responders, local businesses, nonprofits and those in need. Locals are sewing masks, donating food, checking on their neighbors and helping out in ways that just a month ago may have seemed impossible, all while acknowledging “we’re all in this together.”
We’re encouraged the most recent data suggests social distancing and isolation measures are helping to flatten Montana’s coronavirus curve. Some sources have gone so far as to suggest the virus’ peak in this state could happen around April 20. We hope and pray that’s true, but know it could certainly stretch into next month and will be a slow roll-out to restart our economy once the stay-at-home directive is lifted.
On this Easter 2020, we count our blessings and appreciate the little things in life — the daffodils and tulips poking through our flower beds, dyed eggs the colors of the rainbow, our children and grandchildren munching on chocolate bunnies. Our biggest hope is that a year from now on this holiday, we’ll look back on this time in history, smile and remember we lived through something extraordinary.