Social Distancing + Loving Your Neighbor: How To Do Both

This is a weird time, isn't it? I'm laughing because my next blog post was going to be about hospitality and how our house is an ever-revolving door of people, and how do I make that work in my life & love like Jesus without going crazy or having zero structure.
Irony is a funny thing.
COVID-19 has ground face-to-face hospitality and those "hey, come on over's" to a screeching halt. And some of the time, I really don't like it. I'm being brutally honest here, but I don't want to stay home all of the time, shut my doors and not see people. I don't want to talk to my friend six feet apart on our walk. I don't want to keep my kids away from their cousins and sweet friends. I have moments lately where I feel like a toddler throwing a tantrum.
I don't want to, I don't want to!
I fully recognize that this is not a healthy or biblical response. I understand that it is extremely selfish for me to be upset because I can't have my friends over for a housewarming party when there is a very real pandemic threatening the health and lives of many, many people.
To be clear, I don't feel like that all the time. I also love being home during this season. I love the opportunity to slow down and really breathe in this beautiful life God has given me.
But, I love showing hospitality. It thrills me to the core of my soul. It's part of how God made me, and I don't want to change that.
What can I do now to love my neighbor well?
The pandemic of COVID-19 does not mean God has changed. He remains the same, now and forever.  (Hebrews 13:8) What He asks of His children has not changed. He still cares deeply about me and those around me. He still asks me to love others consistently & self-sacrificially in a meaningful way. Jesus says in Matthew 25:40 that whatever we do for the least of people, we do it for Him. Talk about the ultimate motivator. The same God that takes care of the sparrows (Matthew 6:26) takes care of me and asks me to extend that love and care to others.

Here are some ways God is challenging me to extend hospitality in this pandemic.

1. Pray it!
Pick three or four people (it can be more, of course, but start with a few so you can pray for them well) you want to intentionally pray for this week, ask them how you can pray for them specifically, and then start praying. When you tell someone you are going to pray for them, stop and actually do it. Write it down. Put it on a post-it note on your bathroom mirror or your kitchen cabinet by your coffee pot. Use a prayer journal and write it down. Add to it.
Don't necessarily offer advice (unless the situation warrants itself), just pray for them. And then ask them about it. Love them and love them well.  Pray for our country, our leaders, our medical professionals, the world, and most importantly for hearts to come to know the one True God. Pray scripture over that person and then send that person the scripture. Do a  ZOOM prayer group each week. Fast and pray "with" your friends for a day.
Mamas, include your kids when you pray out loud. Model intercessory prayer for them. Don't only pray by yourself in the morning quiet of in your room (although that is necessary for your sanity, too!)
Praying together is something God asks us to do and is definitely something that is lacking right now. I feel this one very personally. I miss that sense of community. Even though we can't be "together", fill that void, as best you can!

2. Create it! 
Plant a pretty flower for a friend and drop it off on her porch with her favorite box of tea. Make cookies for your neighbors and their kids who are going a little stir crazy. Better yet, make cookie dough and give it to them to make cookies as a family together. Have your kids make a chalk drawing of a map for their neighbor friends leading to some bubbles you left for them. Send a letter to someone living by themselves. Make a care package of sanitizer, wet wipes and pre-packaged energy bars/whatever else for your UPS driver/USPS mailman/woman/FedEx driver/random OnTrac (slightly sketchy) vehicle. Start a pen pal relationship with someone you haven't talked to a while. Help your kids do this, too!

3. Do it! 
Pick up groceries or have them delivered for an immune-compromised friend. Send an Amazon package of art supplies to the mom who feels like she's drowning in children without a life preserver. Offer to mow your neighbor's yard who finds the task a little overwhelming. Order a bible or an encouraging book for that person in your life who needs it. Plan a ZOOM chat with some of your friends once a week. If you can sing, record a video of you singing a song that's been encouraging to you lately. Send it to someone who could use some reminder's of God's truth in song. If you can't sing, send a video of someone who can. Do a workout virtually with some friends, and with the people in your household! Encourage your friends to watch your live-streaming church service "with" you and ask them their thoughts on it.

None of this is meant to replace face-to-face hospitality or a home-cooked meal over dinner with beloved faces. If anything, this should make us yearn for home - our real home - even more. Heaven. I've been pondering Heaven quite a bit recently. No separation. No sickness. No social distancing.
We did a ZOOM chat with my daughter's BSF school age group and afterwards she said, "Mom, remember the days when we did real BSF? Before the sickness?"
 I smiled and said, "Oh yes, I do. But it hasn't been that long."
She sighed and said, "It feels like forever!"
It does feels like forever.  COVID-19. Social distancing. Forever. Hopefully, it won't be, but we, as heirs to heaven, are promised more. So much more. If there is anything this pandemic has solidified for me, it's that this world is not my home. I was bought with a price. Paid for by Jesus' death, burial and resurrection. Eternity is set in my heart (Ecclesiastes 3:11) and I am headed there sooner or later.
I don't know where this world is headed. I don't know if this is "the end" or not. But God knows. And He is faithful and so, so worthy to be trusted. That I do know. I do know that He promises He will return for His children, someday.  (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18)
We are all unsure of what the future holds and it is a little scary. But the God who was on the throne before COVID-19 is the same God who reigns today. He is not surprised by anything that is happening in our world. He is allowing it for reasons we may not know this side of heaven.
So, in the meantime, in this not-yet time where most people are stuck at home,  I encourage you to love others well. Maybe that means loving someone who you typically otherwise would avoid. Pray for that person! God will change your heart if you let Him. Good news, you don't have to stay and chat (you actually shouldn't!) Just wash your hands, drop some banana bread and flowers on their porch with a note that says, I'm thinking about you. I'm praying for you. I'm here (although not literally).  Then go home and wash your hands again. And pray for them, again.
Maybe this means you send your friend three states away a Marco Polo video or a long text. Maybe that just means a good old-fashioned phone call. We are so fortunate these days to have a myriad of communication options.
This doesn't mean this is a one-size-fits-all. God didn't call of us to love the same people, or same amount of people, in the same way. That's the beauty of the church. If we all do our part, we can make a big difference. Extroverts and introverts unite! God made us all.
And He asks us all to love each other in a real way, regardless of whether we want be around 25 people or two, or none.
So ask God, who do You have for me to love right now? How can I show hospitality in the best way? How can I point people to You and love people authentically and practically? 
Let's love each other well, because Jesus loves us so much better.
"May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ."
 2 Thessalonians 3:5