Our Government's communication to the nation yesterday of what we can expect if we were to return to Level 3 COVID-19 lockdown (which is still an unknown for many of us as we only experienced Level 3 for two days previously when we were already preparing to go into Level 4) has left teachers of all children under fifteen years of age feeling vulnerable ... like the sacrificial lambs to be exact.
While the rest of the nation is being told to still work from home if possible, to maintain social distancing when out, to keep to your "bubbles" (albeit, marginally larger than at Level 4), and that funerals and weddings can now take place with no more than ten persons (and no food), schools and early childhood centres - the latter where social distancing is impossible and close contact unavoidable - are supposedly to reopen.
As of yet, the Government hasn't announced if we are going to Level 3 mid next week when the original four-week lockdown is due to be reviewed, but all signs point in that direction. Numbers of cases are decreasing despite more testing, there have been no deaths for a few days (to date, the death tally stands at nine), and the economy has been sorely bruised.
Businesses need to reopen. Money needs to exchange hands. More than just essential services need to be operating so that employers can pay employees. As lovely as it is working from home, it's not viable for a lot of sectors. But to work, parents need someone to care for their children.
Which has left teachers feeling confused and anxious and even angry (given some of the reactions I have seen online). Some of the suggestions seem far more idealistic than possible. How we can stagger drop-off times when all parents need to start work at the same time, or keep to small bubbles within our work areas when an outdoor area is shared by up to sixty children, or practice personal hygiene when our littlies cough in our faces and cannot wash their hands without assistance, has not been worked out.
All this to say that the latest news was not welcomed by a number of teachers (as much as we miss the children we work with), myself included.
And then I opened my Bible this morning and read Psalm 121. At the beginning of COVID-19 I had seen an article online that said it was one of the most searched for passages during this unsettling period of time. True or not, for me it was simply the next passage in my self-appointed Bible reading programme for 2020.
I will lift up my eyes to the hills -
From whence comes my help?
My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
[It's not from the hills - or nature - or tools or policies or even Governments but from the Lord our God, the One who made the heavens and the earth and everything in them in six days. He is certainly not daunted by anything and everything that is happening at present.]
He will not allow your foot to be moved;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Israel
Shall neither slumber nor sleep.
[God is not overwhelmed or too busy with what's happening in the rest of the world to forget what's happening here. He does not need to sleep or take a break. He is continually watching over us.]
The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade at your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
[The Lord is our Keeper, our Provider, our Shield and Protector. We do not need to fear.]
The Lord shall preserve you from all evil;
He shall preserve your soul.
[He is the Risen Saviour, the Resurrected Christ, and He will preserve our souls. We do not need to fear death for He has promised us an eternal home with Him.]
The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in
From this time forth, and even forevermore.
[Even in my day to day life, in my going out and coming in, He is with me. No matter what happens - even if our work places feel unsafe due to things outside our control - He has promised to be with us - today and always. If the Lord is for us - and He is - what need we to fear?]
