Saturday, March 6, 2021

COVID and Worrying

Read Luke 12: 22-34

My father, John Cobau, died on April 1st, 2020 of COVID-19. We were very close, and I loved him very much. For the last few years of his life we shared an office on Mack Avenue.

Dad died at the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, before everyone started worrying incessantly about the illness. After he died the country started a nationwide effort to contain the virus. Many people seemed to worry nonstop about the possibility of catching the virus. Because my mother and I had contracted the virus in the first few days of the pandemic, we thought we could not catch it again, so we were not as anxious.

After a few months I moved into my father’s office and I noticed a quotation from the Bible taped on to his desk. It was about worry and I thought it was very appropriate for the year of worry we have lived through in 2020. I believe it was my dad’s last words of wisdom for me to live by.

The Bible verse was from Luke Chapter 12, verses 25 to 34. In the version he had printed out, they called worrying being anxious. His version of verse 27 read “And which of you, by being anxious can add one cubit to the span of his life?”

I thought about my father and the lessons he taught his family. He had health concerns in his later years, but he rarely spoke of them or took them seriously. He always had a sense of humor when a doctor would diagnose him with a new illness or warn him about a new danger.

I realized he was living out these Bible verses. The verses are absolute truth. He would have gained nothing in his life by worrying about his physical ailments. He kept doing the things he loved with the people he loved and enjoying his life.

I hope we all can follow his example and follow the Bible and show faith, love, and hope during these troubled times.

“Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day.”

Tom Cobau