Do..
Be there
Listen
Cry with them
Pray for and with them
Ask them how you can help
Tell them you love them
Offer help

Do Not…
Criticize
Give advice (unless they ask)
React negatively
Compare your own life
Tell them someone has it worse than them
Tell them to get over it
Share platitudes

Remember…
that we aren’t perfect.
that everyone needs compassion and empathy.
our own struggles.
that life is precious no matter the age or development.
That it’s okay not to have the answers.
that no one is “too far gone” for the grace, love, and forgiveness of Jesus.
That feelings of sadness, isolation, anger, frustration, and angst are all normal tings to feel.
That it’s okay to NOT be okay (because, I’m not all that okay myself right now).

This time is HARD for everyone, and completely unprecedented in our time. All of us are trying to figure life out, whether it’s suddenly having to do crisis homeschooling, losing our jobs, being quarantined with your abusers, struggling with mental health alone, losing therapies and medical support, etc. My hard is different than your hard, but your hard is still a tough thing to deal with.

Jesus can do hard like no one else.
He wept
He danced
He overturned tables
He created wine out of water,
…but most tangibly, He died for us.

He knows and He understands. ❤️

Remember that one day we will look back with some awe and wonder at how we functioned and lived, a lot of sadness at sickness, death, and being temporarily separated from loved ones and friends, and maybe even some regret at how we had lived our lives previous to being forced to stay home or work even harder at our essential jobs.

What will we tell future generations? I’m hoping we can share that we banded together, loved each other, forgave one other, learned to live better with each other, grieved together, listened harder, and moved forward into a new chapter. And also that we judged less and loved more.

Spring is here.
And then summer.
And so on and so forth.

And what then?

I hope that we will remember unity and strength.
And that we cared.
And that empathy was a key emotion.

Go forward with compassion.

May Jesus be the center of our motives and actions.

May His love shine through us as a beacon for those in the eye of the storm.