Talking with a friend shortly after the shelter-in-place order came from the governor of our state during the COVID-19 pandemic, I asked how her day had been. She said that all she’d done was go to the grocery store, but that she had never experienced anything like the “collective anxiety” she’d felt there. 

From getting groceries, to work-from-home schedules, to relying on technology rather than travel for connecting with loved ones, many things have changed, and many people are feeling fear and anxiety about the shift. Yet, at the same time, a higher purpose and new hope for humanity’s future are emerging.  

Many people instinctively turn to prayer when facing difficulties. But if that prayer is mostly just wishing and hoping, it’s hard to see that it can make much of a difference for our world. On the other hand, if that prayer enables people to feel a more unlimited sense of the power and presence of infinite good, or God, this realization can do a great deal to bring peace, allay fear, and even reveal a spiritual basis for health, which can seem all too tenuous during times of global crises. Many who have worked in global affairs have seen how healing for nations depends on individuals discovering their own innate dignity and integrity and acting based on this new view of themselves.