As it is often said these days, while there have been some periods in history that might border on the things we are experiencing, virtually none of us have lived through such a time as this—a global pandemic which has impacted the United States on a per capita basis more seriously than any other developed country, and at the same time we are living on the edge of uncertainty about future leadership at the national level while the viral spread of Covid-19 and the social, medical, and economic crises it generates continue.

In simple terms, It has been and is a tough and depressing time.

In the face of that reality, I pass on these quotations which have been meaningful to me, are the farthest things from mere platitudes, and which might offer some hopeful encouragement in this challenging time.

Be Glad of Life

Because it gives you the chance to love

               and to work and to play

                              and to look up at the stars—  

to be satisfied with your possessions

               but not content with yourself

                              until you have made the best of them—

to despise nothing in the world except falsehood and meanness,

               and to fear nothing except cowardice—

to be governed by your admirations

               rather than by your disgusts—

to covet nothing that is your neighbors’

               except their kindness of heart

                             and gentleness of manners—

to think seldom of your enemies,

               often of your friends,

and to spend as much time as you can,

                             with body and with spirit,

                                            in the great out-of-doors—

these are the little guideposts on the footpaths to peace.

                                                                                Henry van Dyke (in one of several versionsI).

                                                                  Wager that it matters.

This is the kind of world in which life, calling, and love matter—we need to take risks inspired by our intuitions, energized by our longings, and animated by our dreams.

To weave and reweave the fabric of civil community,

          seek reconciliation in the place of alienation,

                         and make peace in the face of division.  

To care for creation as a home in which generations after us will live

          and not as a warehouse of expendable resources

                         for our reckless use.  

To befriend the lonely, stand with the marginalized,

          speak for the voiceless, lend strength to the weak,

                         and shelter the vulnerable.

I cannot prove beyond uncertainty

          that tenderness, gentleness, and kindness are more powerful than

                        toughness, harshness, and selfishness

or that hospitality, mercy and patience

          are stronger than exclusion, judgment, and haste.

I cannot demonstrate to you, beyond the need for a kind of faith,

          that hope emerges from despair,

                   love casts out fear,

                            and life is stronger than death.

From my experience, though, I trust that they are.

      Bet on love.

            Gamble on fullness of life,

                  the reality of calling,

                        and the adventure of purpose.

Wager that it matters. 

                                                                                        Guy Sayles, from Commencement Address,

                                                                                                       Mars Hill University, May 11, 2019

                                                                                                                                   (Emphasis mine).

                                                                              Today

It is a moment of light surrounded on all sides by darkness and oblivion.

In the entire history of the universe, let alone in your own history, there has never been another just like it and there will never be another just like it again.

      It is the point to which all your yesterdays have been leading

            since the hour of your birth.

                  It is the point from which all your tomorrows will proceed

                        until the hour of your death.

If you were aware of how precious it is,

      you could hardly live through it.

            Unless you are aware of how precious it is,

                  you can hardly be said to be living at all.

The point is to see it for what it is because it will be gone before you know it.

      If you waste it, it is your life that you are wasting. If you look the other way,

            it may be the moment you’ve been waiting for . . . .

All the other days have either disappeared into darkness and oblivion

      or not yet emerged from it.

           Today is the only day there is.

                                                                                   Frederick Buechner, Whistling in the Dark,

                                                                                                                    A Doubter’s Dictionary,

                                                                                                          pp. 117-18 (Emphasis mine).