A friend of mine used the term “forbearance” recently in reference to getting through this pandemic. I have been thinking about that word ever since.

I remember back in March when everything first shut down and parents started to work from home. After a few weeks, my husband and I would walk around the block and people would be out on their driveways, talking to passersby like us. Kids would have left colorful chalk drawings that were funny, encouraging or just plain cute. After some weeks, we would stroll and see families out riding bikes together or walking together…anything to get out of the house with young kids.

Now, we are all “COVID fatigued”. The “we are in this together” community spirit is also fatigued. “COVID fatigue” was not a term a year ago but it’s probably urban slang by now. We are all “done” with being cooped up inside or masked and socially distanced outside. We are tired of staying away from our favorite venues where we might catch COVID.

We all make choices about the amount of risk we want to take. For me, I choose to visit my husband’s 105-year-old grandmother and so I don’t do karaoke in a bar. Well, actually you couldn’t pay me enough to do karaoke anywhere. But the point is, I am careful about my risk because I have her to protect besides myself. Sure, I could go to a restaurant and sit outside and that would probably be fine. I really miss going to theaters (it’s the popcorn I miss the most) and some are open now. I just can’t quite see myself in a closed space though, breathing the enclosed air that the rest of the audience is breathing, regardless of how much it is recirculated. I’m making a choice not to go right now because of the elderly relatives I care about. My husband and I pop microwave popcorn and sometimes watch a movie on Netflix but really…it’s not the same experience.

Forbearance. The dictionary definition is this:

patient self-control; restraint and tolerance

We all have to continue with patient self-control; with restraint in our actions towards others if we disagree with how well (or lack thereof) they show control in the midst of all of the mask rules in our cities. We have a long way to go; it’s probably next summer before we have any hope of moving through this pandemic, maybe longer. Tolerance. If we have ever needed tolerance for one another within our families, communities and our society, it’s now.

We will get through this season in our lives with forbearance. It won’t be fun…or easy…but we have to. As the saying goes, it is a marathon, not a sprint. The only choice we have is to choose forward…forbearance with love and with kindness.

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Galations 5:22